


How to Train Your Drabbles

by wilderwill



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, One Shot Collection, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:08:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25603327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilderwill/pseuds/wilderwill
Summary: Not actually drabbles, but one-shots; the title just had a better ring to it. Feel free to leave suggestions and critiques as I use this as a dumping ground and writing exercise, centered around a fandom I enjoy. These pieces are far from perfect but I gotta learn how to write somewhere and it's fun to take these characters through situations we'd never otherwise see them in.Crossposted on Fanfiction.net under the same name.
Relationships: Fishlegs Ingerman/Ruffnut Thorston, Heather/Fishlegs Ingerman, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Stoick the Vast/Valka
Kudos: 14





	1. Flowers for Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Astrid always loved flowers, not that anyone knew. Or did they?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> July 29th, 2020  
> Rated K+  
> 2,489 Words  
> Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Hiccup  
> No Ships  
> Major Character Death, Could be canon until the end

**_Flowers for Feelings_ **

* * *

No one would believe that such a strong girl like Astrid Hofferson loves flowers. She’s so strong and brash and not afraid to get her hands dirty. Flowers are so delicate and pretty and fragrant. Astrid loves flowers of all kinds. She never asks for them but, every once in a while, she’ll go out and pick some. No one gets a girl like Astrid flowers. Not only do they believe that she doesn’t like them but they also wouldn’t have any reason to give her flowers. 

Flowers are for when boys want to flatter girls or when friends want to cheer each other up or when families are being extra formal. A) Astrid wants to remain single so that she can excel as a shield maiden without being bogged down by a husband or kids—not to mention that nobody is interested in her like that, B) Astrid needs to be strong and never shows her weaker emotions like sadness anyways, and C) they’re vikings; Vikings aren’t formal. So, Astrid never gets flowers… with a few exceptions.

* * *

Hiccup is the first person to notice that Astrid likes flowers. He snuck out, hunting for trolls again, and spied on her. She was looking for flowers that hadn’t already been or tramped upon by the local wildlife, Hiccup included. Frustrated, Astrid went home with a measly bundle of three flowers.

The next day she awoke to a package on the doorstep. Her mother wouldn’t tell her who it was from or what was in it and she had to wait until after breakfast to open it. The writing on the package was awful, much like chicken scratch. She opened it up to a note and a bundle of purple flowers, the circumference of her fist. On the note read:

_‘I like flowers too.’_

* * *

Ruffnut figured it out next, naturally. The two girls were playing in the river together. The boys were off doing some _boy’s thing_ with Gobber, so the two girls wandered off. They were having a splash war but Astrid’s focus was somewhere else.

“Hey, Astrid!” Ruffnut hollered even though Astrid was within arm’s reach. “I’m not actually winning, now am I?”

Astrid’s gaze was on something behind Ruffnut. She remained silent, entranced by something. Ruffnut turned around to see what Astrid was looking at, but it was at that moment that Astrid regained her focus.

“Never,” she said as she leapt up, kicking a bunch of water at a distracted Ruffnut. Ruffnut responded by tackling Astrid in the air. The two tumbled through the shallow water until Ruffnut, slightly bigger, had Astrid’s head in the water.

“Say ‘Uncle’ and I’ll let you up,” she taunted as Astrid kicked and splashed. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you over all the-”

Astrid stilled, using the fact that water made surfaces slippery to turn on her side, knocking Ruffnut off of her back was on the girl’s stomach and she was putting all her weight into keeping Ruffnut from moving. In defence, Ruffnut had Astrid’s head in a loose headlock. “Are you sure you’re not the one who needs to say ‘Uncle’?” Astrid teased.

The two girls tousled in the water for the rest of the day, Astrid winning by tickling Ruffnut into forfeiting. She thought that the flowers were long forgotten until a knock on her door the next day.

Astrid opened the door to a smiling Ruffnut, her nose scrunched and eyes narrowed at Astrid. She looked proud of herself and that’s when Astrid noticed the single yellow flower in her hand.

“So,” Ruffnut began as Astrid’s pale face flushed red, “This is what you were looking at yesterday.” It was a statement, not a question, yet Astrid felt like she was supposed to respond. She didn’t. Ruffnut’s smile dropped a little so she did not look so crazed. “Don’t worry.” She placed her empty hand on Astrid’s shoulder. “The guys are still busy so… why don’t we go back out and pick up some more flowers?” Astrid nodded slowly and that’s exactly how they spent the rest of their day: picking flowers.

Astrid was afraid that Ruffnut would reveal her girly secret to everyone else, but she never did. They never did go out to pick flowers together after that day, but that one time was enough to make Astrid happy for days.

* * *

Snotlout didn’t really _figure it out_ like the others. Since they were kids, he always had a thing for Astrid. However, he never gave her flowers to try to woo her and this time wasn’t any different. The flowers weren’t even his idea. Astrid had a very bad day the day before and Snotlout’s _flirting_ wasn’t making it any better. Since there wasn’t any dragon training going on, the kids were hanging out in the Kill Ring. Some targets were set up and Astrid was practicing throwing her axe at them. She had attracted a small crowd, the people being impressed by the talent of the young girl. Unfortunately, she had also attracted Snotlout.

He waltzed over to her as she pulled her arm back to cast another throw. She rolled her eyes and threw, _hard_ , just missing Snotlout’s nose.

“Hey, babe,” he greeted her as she stomped over to her axe. She was having a pretty bad day, fighting with her mom, and she really wanted to let her anger out by throwing her axe. She was not in the mood for Snotlout's annoying behavior. Her axe had hit more towards the top of the target rather than the bullseye. “Why don’t you let a strong and admirable viking like me throw the axe?” His eyes scanned up and down her body and Astrid shuddered, but she relented. Maybe if she let him fail at throwing the axe he would leave her alone.

“Sure, whatever.” She handed him the axe and walked back to the crowd. Snotlout was so shocked that he almost dropped the axe.

“Wait, really?” He followed her to where she had been standing before. “Because I’ve got an amazing aim and all but… uh… why are you letting me throw your axe?”

The question caught Astrid a little off guard. She would’ve thought that Snotlout would’ve jumped at the opportunity to show off. “Um… You said it yourself. You have good aim.” Astrid pointed to the bull’s eye. “Then prove it.”

Snotlout gulped, seemingly realizing the challenge he set himself up for. He had never really handled an axe before, let alone tried throwing it at a target. “And what do I get if I do?”

Astrid was sure he wouldn’t. Absolutely. One-hundred percent. “Whatever you want, I guess.” She placed one hand on her hip, stepping out of the crowd and leaning in close to Snotlout. “But, if you don’t, you have to leave me alone for the rest of the day.”

Snotlout mumbled something, probably a complaint. “Fine. If I win, then… you have to kiss me!”

Astrid gagged at the idea. “On the cheek,” she said quickly but clearly. The rest of the crowd was getting interested.

“On the lips,” Snotlout corrected her. It was bad judgement on his part as she stepped back, jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, and grabbed her axe before Snotlout dropped it.

“On the cheek or the deals off.”

“What?” Snotlout sneered from where he was crumpled on the ground, “Scared I’m gonna win or something.” Astrid didn’t answer him and shoved the axe back in his hands. 

Snotlout was shaky, eyes darting around. Astrid stood with her arms crossed. She looked annoyed but she was really studying his movements and calculating where the axe would land. He pulled his arm back, closed his eyes, and swung with all his might.

Bull’s eye.

Astrid screamed and punched Snotlout square in the face. “There is no way that you just got a bull’s eye without even trying!” Their parents had to get involved, pulling a kicking and screaming Astrid off of a dazed Snotlout. He never got his kiss and left Astrid alone for the rest of the day.

Astrid was technically in the wrong but Snotlout’s mother was well aware of her son’s advancements on the young Hofferson girl. As an apology for humiliating her, she demanded that her son give her a bouquet of the prettiest flowers they could get. He thought the idea was stupid. Astrid doesn’t like flowers.

Astrid was home when Snotlout came to her house. At this time of day, she usually would’ve been outside training. She was grounded.

“Uh, hi, Astrid.” Snotlout rubbed the back of his head with one hand while the other was clenched behind his back. “My mom wanted me- I mean, I’m sorry for yesterday.”

“Whatever.” Astrid began shutting the door but Snotlout stuck his foot in. “What do you want?”

“I really am sorry,” Snotlout pleaded. “I didn’t know that me hitting a bull’s eye with your axe would have upset you that much and…” Snotlout finally stopped scratching his head and stretched out his other arm; clenched in his hands was a luscious bouquet of the most elegant red flowers Astrid had ever seen. “I got you these.”

Astrid didn’t flush this time. Actually, she didn’t really react at all. She gave Snotlout a peck on the cheek before swiping the flowers and skipping to her room, giddy with joy. Snotlout wasn’t sure what happened that day. He still didn’t think it was the flowers and thought that he was finally winning Astrid over. He went back to his usual habit of annoying Astrid with his terrible attempts at flirting. They were still some of the prettiest flowers Astrid had ever seen.

* * *

Tuffnut didn’t understand that Astrid _liked_ flowers. He thought she was playing a trick on him as he had played plenty of tricks on her. In fact, it was when he was playing a trick on her that he discovered her _secret_. 

He had gone into her room to hide a slimy concoction in her stuff. As he was snooping around, he found a little wooden box with a beautiful engraving of a meadow. The meadow was populated by flowers and birds and was near a pond. Tuffnut opened the box to find some little flowers stuffed in it. They had turned mostly brown and crinkled up.

Tuffnut, with his wild imagination, believed that Astrid somehow knew about his prank and planted the box to do something… The flowers were probably toxic or something. Maybe he was supposed to touch them and get a rash. Or, she was gonna poison him by putting them in his food. Either way, they were dangerous in her possession. He had to get rid of them.

Tuffnut also didn’t have a good understanding of plants. He grabbed some _useless_ flowers that he found in the woods to replace the obviously deadly ones that she had. Using actual flowers would make it harder to notice the difference so she would go on with the prank and would only discover the sabotage when it’s too late.

Unbeknownst to Tuffnut, Astrid was just finding herself busier and busier with more and more responsibility. She hadn’t the time to replace her collection of flowers and they were starting to rot.

The second time Tuffnut snuck into Astrid’s room to replace the flowers, he also placed the slime… on her clothes. She was absolutely furious and chased Tuffnut until sundown with her axe. She didn’t even notice the flowers had been replaced until she noticed the box aloof the next morning. In the box were some very green flowers, probably picked before they were mature. It worked, though, as Astrid really liked her flowers and didn’t have time to go into the woods and replace them for a few more days.

* * *

Fishlegs liked flowers too. Okay, not really. However, like how he was knowledgeable about species of dragons, he also knew a fair bit about flowers. Sometimes they have symbolic meanings and other times they can act as life saving medicine. He notices things. He also noticed that Astrid knew a suspicious lot about flowers too.

“You sure know a lot about flowers for someone who isn’t a healer.” His tone was meant to be accusing but, coming from Fishlegs, it wasn’t that threatening.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Astrid played innocent.

Fishlegs wasn’t in the position to be interrogating Astrid. That would be like poking a sleeping bear. “Sure you don’t,” he relented. He’d have to take a different approach.

Fishlegs enjoyed the quiet and peaceful mornings, before most of the village got up. He liked sitting outside and watching the sunrise. Astrid also _liked_ the mornings or, more so, utilized the first sign of daylight to start training. Not many others were up when Fishlegs made his move. There would be no witnesses.

Fishlegs just happen to walk by the spot Astrid practiced throwing her axe with a bundle of beautiful, orange flowers. He hummed a little tune to himself, loud enough that Astrid would hear.

“What do you want Fishlegs?” Astrid rolled her eyes as she retrieved her axe from the target and wiped it clean. “It better not be the flower thing again.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked up and saw him with the bundle.

“Oh, it’s not,” he said in a sing-song voice. He smiled, looked her straight in the eye, and plucked the petals of the flowers to the tune he was humming.

“Why you little-”

Astrid stomped over to Fishlegs but was stopped by the smug look on his face. “What, Astrid? What am I, but a man, singing his happy songs as he enjoys destroying the flowers he picked.”

“Fine,” Astrid huffed. “I like flowers.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” And, with that, Fishlegs handed Astrid the rest of the flowers before skipping away to his music. “You’d get more use out of them than I would.”

Astrid died first and, as strong as she was, everyone saw it coming. She was a fierce warrior and would die before letting anyone lay a hand on her village. It’s that mentality that wore her down until she was the first to die of the friends.

It was a sad day. It was rainy. And it was quiet.

Astrid already had her send off with everyone else in the village, but there was one last thing to do before they could properly send the woman off to Valhalla. Despite the rain, each of her friends trekked into the woods to pick up their parting gift for her.

One by one, Hiccup, Ruffnut, Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs placed a flower in the cold hands of their friend. Purple. yellow, red, green, orange… and blue. The blue flower had been in Astrid’s hair when she died. She was a strong and brash warrior who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

And she loved flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written second but published first because, while the Immortal piece is smoother, this one has actual scenes.  
> The idea is that this story takes place before the events of the first movie in a universe where Astrid really likes flowers but thinks that no one knows (except the last part which could be read as AU or not).  
> I did not research viking culture or flowers for this so I apologize for any inaccuracies.  
> Flowers referenced as colors I feel each character is:  
> Red- Snotlout  
> Orange- Fishlegs  
> Yellow- Ruffnut  
> Green- Tuffnut  
> Blue- Astrid  
> Purple- Hiccup


	2. Immortal, but Not Invincible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hiccup thought his immortality was a gift. Keyword: thought."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> July 29th, 2020  
> Rated T  
> 2,482 Words  
> Hiccup, Astrid, Valka, Stoick, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Heather, Toothless  
> Hiccstrid  
> Immortal + Modern AU, Major Character Death, Implied Suicide

**_Immortal, but Not Invincible_ **

* * *

And he had felt so great when he figured out he was immortal…

He was only a boy—a child too ignorant to understand death and too innocent to cherish life. All he knew was that he hated his life. He hated everyone who made his life insufferable; he hated the family who always looked so irritated and disappointed in him, the  _ friends _ who relentlessly teased him, the bullies who beat him up when no one was looking, and everyone else in the town who looked at him like he was some pitiful accident. The only ones he had were his cat, Toothless, and his best friend, Astrid.

He was only a boy when he figured out he was immortal and when he thought he had figured out his whole life. His house caught on fire. His father wasn’t home. He wouldn’t make it in time. His mother was home. She heard the alarm and smelt the smoke and ran with her boy out of there, as fast as she could. But Toothless wasn’t with them. Little Hiccup only had two things that made his life bearable: Toothless and Astrid. He couldn’t leave one of them to die.

He ran back in before Valka, his mother, could stop him. He ran through the burning house as the walls looked like they were melting and the supports gave out. He ran up and into his room. Toothless was asleep on his bed. That’s where they found him too, or so Hiccup was told. His mom wasn’t so lucky. The stairs, burning apart, cracked under her weight. She fell and hit her head. They weren’t quite sure if she suffocated to death by inhaling the smoke or burned alive first. Either way, it wasn’t painless and it wasn’t pretty.

Hiccup came out of the incident unscathed. His father made sure that no one else knew all the details of what happened. It was a miracle his boy survived, but it wasn’t a miracle he wanted his boy to be exploited for. Toothless lived too, curled up next to Hiccup on his bed.

After losing his mom, Hiccup spent a lot of time at Astrid’s. His dad was either too busy working or drinking his sorrows away. Astrid was always sympathetic. The two played together all the time. In fact, they were playing when the second incident of Hiccup’s immortality occurred.

They were playing too close to the road. Astrid’s mother had always nagged her about that. It’s how her uncle Finn ended up in a wheelchair—getting hit by a car when he was too close to the road. Astrid and Hiccup were the smallest kids in their class, with Astrid barely being any taller than Hiccup. A car would’ve crushed them instantly. They were playing with a soccer ball when it rolled into the road. Normally, Astrid would have checked the road both ways before stepping out, but not that day. She was just having so much fun that she stepped in the road without a thought. She barely had time to register the car horn before she felt a powerful shove at her side.

They said that the boy was lucky. He was small and must’ve just fit between the wheels. He came out with some scrapes and bruises, but he was alive. It was another miracle. The driver could’ve sworn that they felt their car drive over something, not that they’d ever admitted it. It must’ve just been the soccer ball. Astrid could’ve sworn that she saw blood…

As the two grew up, Astrid’s mom began foreboding the two hanging out. Astrid was a young woman and Hiccup was a young man. They ought to hang out with their own. The genius boy Hiccup didn’t. He stayed at home working on his wild inventions or reading books. When he got older, he’d spend all his free time working at his father’s friend’s, Gobber’s, car mechanics shop. Astrid was an athlete at heart and was often training. She got a motorcycle when she was 16 and, however reluctantly, her mother let her spend the rest of her time riding it. The two still hung out occasionally, especially with mutual friends. They did movie nights and played board games and went to parties. They were never as close as before that day, but they would be again.

It was a game of truth or dare and not spin the bottle as Snotlout had insisted. By then, many people were interested in both Astrid and Hiccup. Astrid had aged nicely, athletics toning her body well. She was fiery and a challenge that many boys wanted to take. She was also a fiercely loyal friend—a point that could be confirmed by the likes of Heather, Ruffnut, and many others. Hiccup was a charmer and puberty hit him like a pile of bricks. He was adorably sweet, but he had a bit of a reputation for being a rebel. Everyone wanted to know just who he was; everyone except Astrid, of course. She already knew.

Astrid got the dare by none other than Heather, with the support of Ruffnut. Both girls knew that Astrid was never one to back down from a dare, so they gave her the hardest one they could think of: kiss Hiccup Haddock. Hiccup asked if he had a say in the matter, but it was too late; Astrid’s lips were already on his. They didn’t talk about the incident for a week, much like they didn’t talk about the car crash. When they did, they both decided to give it more time. She didn’t even show up to the Haddock-Hofferson family dinner that their parents hosted every month since his mom died. Something about her motorcycle…

Her mom died. She had been at the gas station on the bad side of town where she worked as a charitable woman helping people in need. A man had been shot and she had tried tending to his wounds, stopping the bleeding. The robbers told her to back up but she stood her ground. They shot her on the spot without giving her the time to defend herself. Astrid spent the last year of her childhood living with her Uncle. Hiccup didn’t talk to her that year.

They went to the same college, with everyone else from high school. Astrid claimed that she had spent her year to herself and she was ready to be back with her friends. The school, a local community scholarship, eagerly accepted her with her great reputation from the high school. It was almost like she had never left. Hiccup and Astrid picked up their relationship where they left off.

Stoick wanted to take his son hiking for Thanksgiving break. The particular trail they were taking was far from civilization and it was beautiful. Hiccup enjoyed it. He really did.

The weather got bad unexpectedly, and they were in a really bad place. The trail was steep and narrow and they were about halfway up the cliff. The only option was to keep going up, so they did. The rain made the trail really slippery and Hiccup wasn’t always the most coordinated with his body. He took one wrong step and felt the ground slip from under him. He didn’t scream. His father reached out to grab him, but he only fell down too.

He was told that his dad’s body broke his fall. He swore that he felt his body collide with the jagged rocks below them. It was a painful death, having your body stabbed by rocks and bleeding to death. The funeral wasn’t much later, but Hiccup was an adult. He could take care of himself. All his friends, the bullies of his childhood, were there for him: Tuffnut got Hiccup out of the house to have fun, Ruffnut always lightened his dark mood, and Snotlout took care of his house when he couldn’t. Fishlegs would cook him food and Heather gave him all the notes he missed from class. And Astrid, oh Astrid… she crept into his room at night and cradled him as he cried himself to sleep.

After that, Hiccup was sure that he wasn’t that lucky. He was immortal. He thought he had his life all figured out. He was immortal and all his suffering and losses were compensation for it, but it felt great. As a child, he had felt totally and utterly useless. He was smaller than the other kids and slower and weaker. He struggled at school, something that was later discovered to be from a mix of social anxiety, issues verbalizing his thoughts, and a genius kid whose brain was racing fast, and no one taught him how to keep up. He felt like he would never amount to anything, that he wasn’t anything, for so long. Now, he has something better than what everyone else has.

The losses took their toll, though. Snotlout was having some problems with his family that everyone missed. He drank and he drank and he drank until his body couldn’t handle it anymore. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were drug addicts. It was just an adrenaline rush to them until they pushed their limits. They were having a competition over who could take more and both ended up overdosing. Fishlegs was mugged. Unlike Astrid’s mother, he did everything the muggers said. Like Astrid’s mother, he was killed anyway. Heather got really sick. She didn’t have any family to pay her medical bills. Her older brother, Dagur, turned to some shady business to get the money. He disappeared one day without a trace. She could no longer afford her treatment and died soon after. All that was left of the gang was Astrid and Hiccup.

Hiccup had his fair share of close encounters too. On the one year anniversary of his dad’s death, he went back to the trail and got struck by lightning. He lived. One of his roommates had killed his other roommates and just happened to skip him. He lived. Someone crashed into his car and sent it rolling down the road. His car was totaled—crushed. He lived. Astrid joked about it. She always remembered what happened to them as kids. There’s no way he just survived all of that.

Hiccup’s supposed immortality had started to weigh him down, but two things kept his spirit up: Toothless, his cat, and Astrid, his girlfriend. Toothless was still alive and kicking after these many years. After some time of being back home, Astrid and Hiccup decided to make things official. They were dating and hoping to be married soon after college. Gobber approved.

Hiccup thought he had his life all figured out. He was immortal—invincible. He was going to graduate college with his degree in engineering, mechanical, then get a job. He’d marry his best friend Astrid. They’d move into a nice little house in the suburbs, quiet enough to raise their kids but close enough to the city so that they could have fun. He’d make the money and provide for them. Astrid would probably become a soccer mom. They’d save up to send their kids to college. Their kids would move out of the house and they’d have grandkids. He and Astrid would retire and move to the little village in Norway where his dad’s side of the family came from. They’d spend the rest of their days together until age finally took them… The last part was up for debate. Hiccup was still aging, so he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d die from old age. It didn’t really matter to him now, though. He had the rest of his life and he’d face that question when he got there.

Hiccup forgot that Astrid wasn’t immortal and that, no matter how invincible he thought he was, everyone has their weak spots. Astrid and Hiccup were taking the bus home. Cars were expensive and obsolete this far in the city. Also, Astrid had given up her motorbike after her mom died, kinda respecting her wishes more now that she was dead. Something broke. The bus wasn’t turning or breaking. It plowed right through the barrier and into the water. Luckily, the windows were all closed, but that was only delaying the inevitable.

Hiccup wasn’t quite sure what happened next. He hit his head when the bus crashed into the water. The next thing he knew, he was on the shore and being questioned by paramedics. He kept asking and asking where Astrid was, but the shore was chaos. A lot of other people were on the shore: passengers at various stages of consciousness, friends and family that had rushed over after hearing about the accident, first responders trying to clear up the scene. He couldn’t see Astrid and assumed that she was just out of his view or the ambulance took her already. Deep down, he knew that he was wrong.

It was night when it happened, lit by a full moon and without a cloud in the sky. They told him that she died saving him. She had helped several people get to shore. Witnesses recalled her pushing his limp body back onto land. They were sure that it was a wasted effort and he was already dead. He didn’t look like he was breathing. Someone even shouted at her to drop him, that Hiccup was holding her back and she’d drown with him if she didn’t. Astrid didn’t give up. She pushed Hiccup’s  _ dead _ body onto shore. She didn’t make it herself. She drowned that night.

Hiccup thought he had his life all figured out; he thought that immortality was great and he was invincible and all the pain he went through was sacrifices that were worth it. He didn’t think that anymore. He dreamt between the time he was knocked out on the bus and when he was woken up by the paramedics:

Astrid was standing over him, clad in a flowy blue dress with her blonde hair down. The light of the moon illuminated her and Hiccup swore she was glowing. Hiccup wasn’t awake. His eyes were closed, yet, he could see her. She leaned down so that her face was much closer to him.

_ “I knew you’d live.” _

There was no parting kiss as she stepped back into the water and let it engulf her. He could still feel her breath on his lips. He wished she had saved herself. She knew he was immortal but still decided on wasting her last few breaths to save him. He was upset, angry, furious. Hiccup longed not to be immortal. He longed to have died in the fire long ago with his mom, to be spared all this pain that was worth nothing. What worth was everlasting life if you couldn’t use it on the life you wanted? He was physically alive but mentally dead.

He was immortal, but not invincible.


	3. Learning to Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Astrid wants to learn how to roller skate & skater boy Hiccup gives her her first lesson."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> July 30th, 2020  
> 2,569 Words  
> Rated K  
> Astrid, Hiccup  
> Hiccstrid  
> Modern AU

**_Learning to Fall_ **

* * *

The first thing you should know before starting something is how to stop.

The last thing you want is to be rolling half-way down the street, straight for a pedestrian or a wall, and then realizing you don’t know how to stop. Brake. This applies to driving, biking, and, especially right now, to skating.

Astrid ‘the Fearless’ Hofferson—as several kids had dubbed her for her courageous nature—is just that: fearless… except for the times she isn’t. Astrid admittedly has some fears like the dark, losing a loved one, dying, and falling. She actually loves heights when she isn’t afraid of falling, but those two are often a package deal.

Astrid ‘the Fearless’ Hofferson is often dubbed ‘fearless’ because she’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie. She loves horror movies and haunted houses and jumping into pools and flipping on trampolines and et cetera. The newest interest of hers: skating.

Astrid likes speed and wheels make you faster. Astrid’s too young for cars and too _wild_ for a boring old bike. When she told her family that she wanted to start skating, she really meant skateboarding. They surprised her with roller skates and she went with it.

So, here’s Astrid’s problem: none of her family knows how to skate nor have they been very helpful with her attempts. Her solution? The skater boy that lives down the street. Time to roll.

* * *

Astrid approached the auburn-hair boy on an early Saturday morning. The sun was still rising. She didn’t know why he was up this early, but that just meant more time for her to practice.

“Hey.” Astrid tapped the boy on his shoulder but he was lost in thought. “Hey? Hiccup, right?” He still wasn’t responding, staring at the sunrise. Astrid rolled her eyes. 

She’d seen him before at the bus stop and knew he wasn’t deaf, but it was like he couldn’t hear her. Maybe she needed to get even closer.

Astrid squatted so that her mouth was mere centimeters away from the boy’s ear and, in a louder voice than she tried before, she yelled, “Hey? Can you hear me?”

The boy fell back off his skateboard, pushing it down the sidewalk. Astrid jumped up and chased after, stopping it with her foot. The boy was staring at her from where he fell, but he didn’t move.

“Well?” she asked, kicking the skateboard up the slanted sidewalk until he grabbed it. “Please don’t tell me that you're deaf.” She muttered the last part so that he wouldn’t hear, assuming he wasn’t deaf.

“I’m not.” The boy pushed himself up and Astrid realized that they were about the same height. They were the same age too. She was sure she had a class with him in pre-school or something, not that she’d remember it that well. “I was just trying to enjoy the sunrise.”

“Sorry.” Astrid shrugged, then pointed at his skateboard. “You skate, right?”

Now it was the boy’s turn to roll his eyes. “No. I just carry around this skateboard because I think it looks cool.”

Astrid threw her hands up, open in defense. “No shame.” She smiled at the boy’s sarcastic comment. He may be annoyed by her, but that’s just her type of humor. “It does look cool.”

“Thanks, but I actually do skate.” As if he thought his words weren’t enough, he put the skateboard down, stepped onto it, and glided down the sidewalk. Astrid had to run to catch up to him before he stopped at the intersection; her roller skates were in her hands.

“Hiccup,” Astrid panted and the boy nodded. So Hiccup was his name. “I know that these aren’t really your thing-,” Astrid waved around the blue and orange roller skates her family had gifted her, -”but I was wondering if you could help me learn how to use these things.”

Hiccup raised his eyebrow at her as if to ask why she thought he could teach her how to roller skate. Truth be told, she could probably figure this out on her own. It would just take a little longer and probably involve a lot more falling, but Astrid was a girl of speed and success. Hiccup would help with that.

“Look,” Astrid’s tone became very monotonous and matter-of’-factly, “I suck at using these things and you’ve got to have some idea of how to use them. They aren’t too different from skateboards…” She realized that her logic wasn’t the strongest, but she wasn’t gonna stop now. “They both have wheels and they don’t have brakes.”

“I don’t think that makes them the same.” Hiccup’s attention had begun drifting from Astrid back to the sunrise. She could tell because he wasn’t looking at her. “But it’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“Really?” Astrid smiled and she knew it was a goofy smile because of the way Hiccup blushed and began awkwardly scratching her neck. “Now?” she asked, already sitting down to put on the skates.

“Well, first I gotta know what you can do.” Hiccup sat down so that, once again, he and Astrid were kinda level. The incline of the sidewalk and the whole street they lived on wasn’t helping. “Like, do you know how to fall?”

“Fall?” Astrid laughed, though it was more breathy this time and her glance flitted away from Hiccup. “Hiccup, these are skates. There’s not much to fall from…”

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at Astrid and, for a second, she thought she had said something really wrong. She couldn’t think of it quite yet, but she was sure it would come back to haunt her later. He grabbed the roller skate from her hand.

“Well, you use these little rubber _stoppers_ to stop yourself while skating.” He pointed to the cylinder under the toe of the skate. “Like you said, they don’t have brakes.” Hiccup handed Astrid her roller skate. “Brakes on a car are pretty self-explanatory. You press down on them and the car—eventually—stops.” Astrid was about to question his certainty, sounding like he had driven a car already, but he continued without pause. “Stopping on roller skates is a little bit trickier because of balance, among other things. If you’re going too fast, the stoppers might not work in time because they’ll glide over the surface before friction or whatever kicks in. If the surface is uneven or there’s something under your skate you might not be able to put your weight into the stopper like you’re supposed to. It also just takes a bit of getting used to.” Astrid stopped untying her shoelaces and was completely focused on Hiccup… Her focus on his words was questionable at best. “You have knee pads, right?” 

“Yes.” Astrid was wearing her knee and wrist and elbow pads and her helmet. He could see that, but he asked anyway.

“The best way to stop as a beginner when you’re still trying to figure out your balance is by falling onto your knees. Your shoulder pads will keep them from scraping or getting hurt.”

Astrid was impressed. “Wow, you sure know a lot about roller skates for a boy who carries around a skateboard to look cool.”

Hiccup scoffed. “It’s intuitive.” Astrid frowned and shook her head. Maybe it was intuitive to him, but ask her family; it was not intuitive to them. “I’m kidding. My mom liked roller skating.” Astrid had finally finished lacing up her skates and Hiccup helped her stand up, her arms wrapped around his for stability.

“I guess it’s time to roll.”

“Was that the best you got?” Astrid untangled one of her arms and swatted Hiccup on the head, causing him to remove his other arm to shield his head.

Astrid squealed—she doesn’t scream—as she felt gravity work against her. Her breathing became heavy and she kept blinking against the wind, waving her arms around for something to grab onto.

The intersection. She was going really fast straight for the intersection and no, she never actually learned _how_ to fall in skates. She more-so crashed in them.

The car came really fast. It was definitely going over the speed limit, but that was to be expected in such a busy area. The sun was up but it was still early and it was a Saturday. Not too many people were up yet. Astrid didn’t scream but she tried to jolt herself back; slamming on to her back would hurt but it would hurt a lot less than slamming into the car that couldn’t see her through the houses.

Astrid fell back but what she slammed into was most certainly not concrete. It was kinda soft with some hard, jabby pieces.

It was Hiccup.

“I guess that’s one way to stop,” he groaned and Astrid immediately rolled off of him, not daring to stand up. “This is why we learn how to fall.”

“Sorry.” Astrid didn’t look at him. She was still trying to catch her breath and calm down. Her face was very red. “I- You- Uh…” She paused to take one deep breath in and out. “You let go.”

“Because you hit me.” Hiccup stuck his tongue out. Oh boy. This was going to be one very long day.

“That doesn’t mean you let go!” Astrid pushed her upper body up and readjusted herself so that she was sitting criss-cross applesauce. 

“Hmph.” Now Hiccup was squatting to be somewhat level with her, but he was still taller than her at the moment and she knew he was doing it on purpose. “Well, this sounds like a very one-sided relationship.” Astrid gasped extravagantly, placing her hands on her chest. “I mean, I help you and you hit me. What do I get from any of this?”

If they weren’t just kids who had only really met each other minutes ago—Astrid didn’t count meeting in school as really meeting because they never talked to each other much—she would’ve thought he was flirting. But they were kids and they just met. He was teasing and taunting her. She wasn’t afraid to bite his bait.

“What do you want?”

Hiccup laid down so that he was on his side. “I thought you’d never ask, m’lady.” Astrid pursed her lips at his address. “It’s a formality, I swear… and I think I’ll call in my favor later.”

“Whatever, skater boy.” Hiccup stood up, dragging Astrid with him despite the worried look on her face.

“Don’t worry.” He grabbed her shoulder with one of his hands while the other was clasped around one of hers so it looked like they were about to dance. “I won’t let go this time, Astrid”

Astrid nodded and, slowly, Hiccup began leading her back up the hill as he rambled on and on about different techniques and safety measures for skating. They had spent the whole day together and, at sunset, Astrid was waved back home. Before they parted, she grabbed Hiccup by the wrist and looked him in the eyes. It was hard to see with the dimming light.

“How did you know my name?” Astrid tilted her head, studying the boy’s response. “I didn’t tell you it.”

“See you around, m’lady,” was the only answer she got.

* * *

Skating wasn’t the only thing Astrid started that day and, like skating, she didn’t know how to stop.

Hiccup and Astrid began seeing each other every Saturday morning to practice skating for years until they went to different schools. Astrid had been accepted into a program for her athletics that required training 6 days a week, including Saturdays. Hiccup had been accepted into an engineering program that liked to spend students’ Saturdays designing inventions and building them.

Astrid still didn’t know how to stop, though. She craved her time with Hiccup. The two of them had such busy schedules that they could only meet at night when it was taboo. They still did it, though.

As friends.

Astrid and Hiccup spent their last three years of high school together. Then the next four years of college. Then a few more years until an engineering company pulled Hiccup from his home and an offer to join a team pulled Astrid away from hers. She didn’t want to go.

_“Please don’t let go.”_

So they didn’t.

* * *

It had been _many_ years since Hiccup taught her how to roller skate.

The two of them had been inseparable lately, finally having settled and gotten rhythm to their lives. Of course, things in their lives don’t stay settled for long.

Hiccup had asked to meet Astrid on the street they grew up on. It was sunset and she obliged—quite happily, truthfully. They walked to the intersection from the end of the street, Hiccup following just behind Astrid. 

They reached the intersection and Astrid turned around to ask Hiccup what exactly they were doing here, but she had already gotten her answer. Now in front of her, Hiccup had knelt on one knee and, on the other knee, in his hand, was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. The ring itself was nearly black, dotted with orange and blue jewels.

“You know, I never called in that favor.” Astrid was already on the brink of tears with her hand clasped over her mouth. “I think it’s about time I do.” She was nodding before he even asked the question. “Astrid Hofferson, would you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”

She punched him in the arm. “Whatever, skater boy.” Hiccup got up, a little concerned that she meant no. “Hey-,” she grabbed his face and pulled it close to hers, -”that was a yes.”

They kissed.

* * *

“Oh, gods,” Astrid exclaimed as Hiccup sat outside her door. “I haven’t worn these things in ages. I barely remember how to use them.”

“Astrid,” Hiccup whined. “You picked a really great time to be telling me this.” His leg was bouncing up and down and his face was in his hands.

“Oh, like you’ve been on your skateboard recently.”

“Well, I’m not the one who decided to skate away after our wedding ceremony.” Astrid chuckled behind the door, only upsetting Hiccup more.

“It really is beautiful with the dress.” At this statement, Hiccup’s nerves started calming. His leg stopped bouncing and he looked up at the door. “Of course, you won’t see the dress until I come down the aisle… and I’ll put on the skates after we say ‘I do.’” Astrid could hear Hiccup mutter, ‘Thank Odin’ under his breath.

* * *

The wedding wasn’t even a month later. Astrid was waiting for her cue outside of the room about as terrified as she was when she was rolling down the hill towards that intersection. She took a deep breath in and out. “It’s time to roll.”

Astrid looked beautiful with her perfectly curled blonde hair down. She was in a white, flowy dress that made her look like an angel. Astrid Hofferson. Astrid Haddock.

The couple said their vows and their ‘I do’s’ and all the other formalities. There was going to be a quick break between the wedding ceremony and the reception so that the wedding party could change into more comfortable clothes if they desired.

Astrid slipped on the skates quickly and effortlessly. Before she could even try to push herself up. Hiccup took both her arms. She didn’t have to say the words as he whispered into her ear before they left:

_“I won’t let you go, Astrid.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t actually know anything about skating except that I want to learn how to roller skate and, when I looked up “how to roller skate”, one of the first results that came up was “how to fall on skates”. This was gonna be about learning how to ride a bike but dragons and flying to roller skates and falling was such a good connection. Sorry for any inaccuracies.  
> Also, I am an absolute Hiccstrid fan but I support other ships as well. They’re my favorite but, like, Heather and Eret (not necessarily together) are really cool among other people. If you want to request, I’ll consider other ships.  
> Lowkey, Hiccup’s last line is really creepy in another context.  
> I wrote this at midnight and finished it at 2 A.M.


	4. How to Preserve Your Loved Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hiccup goes insane, paralyzing Astrid with Flightmare mist or Speed Stinger venom before preserving her in Death Song amber.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> July 30th, 2020  
> 2,953 Words  
> Rated T  
> Hiccup, Astrid  
> Dark Hiccstrid  
> Psychopath AU, Violence

**_ How to Preserve Your Loved Ones  _ **

* * *

The saying goes: die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.

Maybe Hiccup cheated death just a few too many times and this was his punishment. A spiral into insanity. A slandering of his good name. Something no one saw coming but they all should’ve. A boy isn’t just okay after being the laughing stock of the village, only gaining respect once he lost his leg. Worthless. A boy isn’t okay when, the day he got his mother back, his father died protecting him. Useless. A boy isn’t okay having the responsibility of a village thrust onto him—a village that hated him not all too long ago. Pathetic.

Everyone could tell that, under the mask he put on, he longed to get away from this. _‘He’ll get over it with time,’_ they thought and, for a while, it really looked like he did.

* * *

Astrid was running as fast as her feet could carry her. The rain wasn’t helping as she slipped several times, skin scraping and bruising against the rough ground. She was bleeding and the rain pouring onto her skin wasn’t helping but she couldn’t afford to stop running.

She had thought that tonight was just going to be lovely; it was going to be a pleasant break from all the stress she was under and all the responsibilities she had. Hiccup told Astrid to meet him on a nearby, uninhabited island. _Alone_. She happily obliged, ensuring that no one would come looking for her until the next morning by coming up with some lame excuse.

When she got there, though, she felt uneasy. The part of the island where Hiccup told her to meet him was rather devoid of plants and life in general. In her peripheral, she saw a large cave system that she wouldn’t want to get lost in. The night was pitch black with clouds blocking the moon. The wind tickled Astrid’s skin and made her shiver. The eerie silence was rather unsettling. She felt alone.

If she had been someone else, Hiccup probably would’ve taken her right then and there. However, after her stint with being blind for a day, her hearing was pretty good when her ability to see was limited. His footsteps were soft, but she could hear them. She whipped around before he could reach her, catching him off guard as he stopped where he was and awkwardly stretched his arms behind his back.

His eyes were closed. “Good evening, m’lady.” But, when they opened and his face was illuminated by the dim light of the small torch in Hiccup’s hand, Astrid knew. Hiccup is only human and humans aren’t that strong. He finally broke.

Hiccup was reading Astrid’s face too because, as soon as she realized that he had changed, he stretched his arm out and grabbed hers with an iron grip. She wrangled her arm, kicked him, bit him; it was all useless. He wasn’t reacting. She drew blood and all he did was give her the same goofy grin he’d been giving her for years.

Astrid knew that she couldn’t fight her way out of his grip. She might be better trained than him, but he was bigger than her and in a state where he was unreactive to pain. Not to mention, she was holding back. He was still Hiccup. Somehow. Somewhere.

He was also in a state of mental stability which meant his mind was weakened. Normally, Astrid was the brawns that took people down with her fists while Hiccup was the brains that tricked people into enacting their own demise. However, they had picked up on each other’s tricks.

Astrid stopped struggling and trying to pull her arm away. For a moment, they were both completely still. Astrid had to focus on not shaking under his touch. She had to even out her raggedy breath under his threatening gaze.

Play innocent. Play dumb. Do something to let his guard down for just a second so you can get your arm free.

“Hiccup, wow.” Astrid caressed his hand, turning her body so that her head was on his chest. “You’ve gotten _a lot_ stronger.” She looked up into his eyes and smiled at him. She was hoping to find some sign that the foolish boy she fell in love with was still in there. 

His green eyes looked unbearably dark at the moment. She wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of whatever Hiccup was planning.

Astrid stood on her toes, placing her free hand on Hiccup’s shoulder to support herself. She was nearly at eye level and she saw something. A glint in his eyes. A shift of his gaze. He didn’t look any _lighter_ , but he looked confused. Astrid seized the opportunity.

“Baby,” she whispered against his neck as she wrapped her arm behind his head, pushing him into a kiss. He remained stiff for a moment and Astrid worried that he already saw through her plan. Then his grip loosened, just a little, until, gradually, his hand slid off her arm and up and down her back.

She’d done it. Astrid grabbed Hiccup’s arm and twisted it, causing him to yelp. She kicked him in the leg—the real one—and he crumpled to the floor.

Then she ran as fast as her feet could carry her.

She ran away from the caves and towards anything else that could give her cover. There was a forest and she sprinted. The rain started falling. Her arm was still red from where Hiccup held her. Her face was flush. She kept falling over and over again, cutting and bruising her skin. She hit her head. She ran into a tree. She was dizzy and lightheaded and felt like she needed to throw up.

She ran until there was a cliff and the only options were to turn back or to climb up. The cliff was steep and the water made it extra slippery, but Astrid had to try. She needed to go to save herself. She needed to go home to save Hiccup.

Astrid hesitated, judging the height of the cliff. A fall from the top would, at the right angle, would certainly kill her. If she was lucky, she’d probably just break an arm or a leg, but that would heavily impede her ability to escape. She latched both hands onto little grooves in the cliff before slowly and cautiously lifting her foot up.

By the time Hiccup found her, she was barely out of his arm’s reach. The rain and the darkness were making it really hard for Astrid to figure out how to move next.

“M’lady.” Hiccup tapped the rock under where Astrid stood so that she could feel the vibrations ever so slightly. “That’s a very tall cliff you’re climbing.” He smacked his lips. “It’d be a shame if you fell.”

Astrid didn’t see it coming. Don’t look down. She was ignoring Hiccup’s taunts looking up, just trying to climb this cliff as fast as she could so she could leave him behind. She’d come back, of course.

She didn’t realize Hiccup himself was climbing the cliff under her and he was doing it much faster. Where Astrid had been slow to move, fearing that she’d fall, Hiccup wasn’t. He reached her ankle in a matter of moments and pulled, hard.

Astrid didn’t have time to scream as Hiccup jumped down and she landed perfectly in her arms. He had a cloth in one hand that he stuck over her nose and mouth. She squirmed but, Odin be damned, he was stronger than her. She wasn’t holding back this time.

Hiccup held the cloth over Astrid’s face as she clawed at his hands. She couldn’t breathe. Her vision was fading and fading and fading until, finally, everything went to black and she stopped moving.

Hiccup placed two fingers against the limp girl’s neck, checking for a pulse.

* * *

The next time Astrid awoke, she couldn’t feel anything except the tears welling in her eyes. She wanted to scream but nothing came out.

She wasn’t bound in any way. She wasn’t blindfolded either. Astrid could still hear the rain, but her vision was pitch black. She laid there, waiting.

Hiccup waltzed in soon after, humming to himself. His humming didn’t stop as he stepped closer to Astrid.

“You’re awake, I see.” He chuckled, holding her chin with his hand. “I’m sorry about the paralysis, but this really makes the process easier.”

If Astrid could’ve jerked her head away, she would have. Instead, she had to settle for giving him a glare that could kill. She still didn’t know what his plan was but she didn’t like it.

“Oh, don’t worry, Astrid.” The way he said her name—so breathless—with a smile made her squirm inside. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He turned around to grab something. He was fiddling with something she couldn’t see and all she could do was wait and hope. “In fact, I’m going to do the opposite. Astrid-,” Her eyes winced at the mention of her name again. -”I’m going to help you.”

Hiccup started a fire and that’s when she realized his intentions. She would have screamed, but all she could do was go wide-eyed.

Over the fire was a large pot with an orange liquid slowly oozing down the side. Death Song amber. It trapped its victims, preserving them until either the dragon or fire released them. Hiccup was melting a lot of Death Song amber.

“Astrid, you see where I’m going with this, right?” Hiccup sat next to the frozen girl and moved her head to face him.

She blinked, as if to say _‘No.’_ She had her ideas but she didn’t want to accept it. Despite him grabbing her and chasing her and knocking her out and paralyzing her, she was clinging on to some semblance of hope; some hope that Hiccup hadn’t yet entirely lost it.

Hiccup yanked her face closer to him. “Oh, Astrid,-” His breath was hot on her nose before he moved his mouth to graze her ear. -”You know better than that.”

She gulped. She couldn’t move her mouth to talk or force enough air to scream, but she found that she could still gulp. 

She could also still whimper and she could still cry, so she did.

Hiccup pulled back, his hands on her shoulders and himself at arm’s length. “Don’t be scared, m’lady. As I said, it won’t hurt. It can’t hurt.” He chuckled to himself. “You’re paralyzed. You won’t feel a thing.”

Astrid huffed and Hiccup already knew what she was trying to say in her vulnerable state.

“‘Why?’ Well, why not?” His hand caressed her arm where he had grabbed her earlier. There was still a visible mark. “Astrid, I grew up thinking that my mom died when I was just a baby and, when I finally get her back, my dad dies. I had no one for fifteen years.” His own eyes started watering and Astrid couldn’t help but feel pity for him. “Do you know how that feels?” His mood shifted as he wiped away his tears and his cold gaze bore into Astrid. “Being completely and utterly alone.”

Astrid felt a little bit of control back in her hands. They were in a cave—Astrid didn’t know how far in. The darkness could have been because they were in so deep or simply because it was still night. She could’ve been out for hours. It could’ve been the next day for all she knew. Or maybe she woke up just moments after she was placed in the cave. Whichever it was, the paralysis was starting to wear off and Hiccup was still talking.

“I spent all my childhood trying to win my dad’s respect. You wanna know what it taught me?” Hiccup had been pacing around the room but turned to look at Astrid. She stopped moving her fingers. “I. Hate. Losing.” He walked towards the pot and stirred it slowly. The stick stuck a bit and Astrid could tell that it wasn’t melted enough for Hiccup’s purpose. She still had time.

“Astrid, I just don’t want to lose you.”

She internally groaned at the statement. He was well aware that this wouldn’t stop the inevitable. If anything, it’d make things worse. Sure, she might not die, but he’d lose her in the worst way possible. He’d lose her heart. He’d lose her love.

“I mean, how many times have you been captured and almost killed because of me.” Astrid rolled her eyes. That’s a risk she’d have to take regardless of if she’s with Hiccup or not. She’s a warrior through and through and she’s always fighting. Even now.

Astrid could move her leg. She’d be naive to think that she was in the state to run. As her control over her body came back, so did the pain from falling over and over again the woods. Gods, she was tired.

Hiccup groaned and rubbed his head. He was much better off than Astrid, save a few bruises from where she had hit him and a bite mark. Still, he was nowhere near his peak condition. The two of them laid there, against opposite walls of the cave, in total silence. The only noise came from the crackles of the fire, reminding Astrid that time was passing and her time was running out if she didn’t do something soon.

She still couldn’t tell the time but, after a while, Hiccup turned his back to her to stir the pot. She moved her leg again. Full control. Now all she had to do was pray to the gods that luck would be on her side.

She was still reluctant to hurt Hiccup, but she knew she had to. She could have easily knocked him into the fire or the pot with her momentum, but that could kill him. Astrid knew that she couldn’t outrun Hiccup and she’d have to knock him out if she wanted to escape. She could go back to the village and gather all her friends. They’d help. They’d come back, armed and ready. Hiccup wouldn’t be able to take them all on at once. Maybe Valka could talk some sense into him as his mom.

Astrid rammed Hiccup into the wall so hard that, for a moment, she thought she had broken his ribs.

“Looks like I underestimated how long you’d take to recover.” He wiped some spit off of his chin before wrapping his hand around Astrid’s neck and squeezing. Hard. “You never make things easy, now do you, Astrid?” He used his other arm to push Astrid back, twisting until she was the one in the wall.

“Hiccup,” she gasped. The hand around her neck loosened enough for her to breathe, but his whole body was now pressing her into the wall. “Hiccup, please, let me go.”

“Why would I, m’lady?” His hand slid up her neck to cradle her face. “I’m doing this for us.” Hiccup placed a gentle kiss on Astrid’s lips that she couldn’t return.

She wriggled one arm free to grab the side of Hiccup’s head, pushing his face from hers and into the wall. There was an audible smack, but Astrid ignored the blood. She tried to ignore his intentions, to pretend that he was just like any other ruthless viking in the Archipelago. If she didn’t kill him first, he would surely kill her.

Hiccup slumped into the wall, forcing Astrid down with him. Her hand was still grasping onto his head and she was about ready to smash his face into the wall again. Then she heard him cry.

“Astrid, I’m scared.”

She knew better than to fall for that trick. She really did but, goddamnit, she loved him. He was shaking in her arms. He was holding her tighter than before, arm wrapped around her waist, yet she didn’t feel any more constricted.

This was Hiccup. _Her_ Hiccup. He was just scared. He was broken by the weight of the world that was placed on his shoulders. He didn’t need to be looked at like the village screw-up again, which would certainly happen if news about his mental breakdown spread. He needed this. An intimate moment of trust where he could let his walls down and lift the weight ever so much.

Against her better judgement, Astrid ran her hands through the hair of the sobbing boy. She had finally gotten her sign that Hiccup was still there—that he hadn’t completely lost it and everything would go back to normal.

She pushed his head back so she could see his face and genuinely tell him that they’d get through this, together, just like they always did. There will always be a Hiccup and Astrid, even after this night. What she saw, though, was not the face of a broken boy.

“Go burn in Hel.”

Hiccup had picked up a loose rock next to Astrid. She didn’t notice until he slammed it into her head, effectively knocking her out and creating a gash. She fell limp once more. This time, Hiccup didn’t check for a pulse. 

The amber was ready. He pulled the pot off the stove, wanting the amber to be cooled a tad more so it wouldn’t burn her skin.

* * *

Hiccup looked at the girl, fully encased in the amber. The light on the amber made it look like she was glowing and he smiled at his work. Now, he was certain, there would always be a Hiccup and Astrid because, now, no one could take her from him.

He placed a kiss on the amber near Astrid’s face. 

“Now it’s time to take care of everyone else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is such a great follow up to the last piece; sarcasm fully intended.  
> I started writing this thinking that it could take place after the second or the third movie, but he uses Flightmare mist or Speed Stinger venom and Death Song amber, so it’s more likely that it takes place before the third movie. Unless, of course, Hiccup had been sitting on this idea for a while and already collected all the materials he needs. Hence, no dragons could be excused by Hiccup’s request to meet Astrid alone or because they’re no longer here.  
> Also, I’m not sure how well Death Song amber would work towards this purpose, so just bear with me.  
> “M’lady” and “Milady” are both technically correct; I prefer writing it as “m’lady”.


	5. It Runs in the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wild adventures of little Valka & Stoick with Gobber dragged along, little Hiccup leading his friends troll hunting, and little Zephyr & Nuffink dragon hunting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> July 31st, 2020  
> 5,665 Words  
> Rated K  
> Gobber, Valka, Zephyr, Stoick, Nuffink, Astrid, Fishlegs, Hiccup, Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut  
> Stalka, Minor Hiccstrid  
> Could be canon, could also not be; Characters may be a bit OOC

_**It Runs in the Family** _

* * *

Valka was always a little bit different. She was loud and energetic and, sometimes, too much for even her parents to handle. There was a full day battle between her and her parents over wearing skirts—pants were far more practical—that ended with things being thrown across the room and a broken door. Valka relented and wore her skirts, though she made sure to keep giving her parents Hel over it.

Viking girls were supposed to learn how to be loving wives and caring mothers. Valka was never good at following instructions. She was always quick to defend herself and others, but she didn’t particularly enjoy fighting. Still, she’d rather remain single and become a shieldmaiden than become a boring old housewife. She’d change her mind later but, as a child, she was dead set on it.

Today, Valka was supposed to be with all the other viking children learning the basics about dragons and what to do if you run into one. Pretty much all the instruction that the little kids got was to run and get an adult or to hide. Valka wasn’t one to run or hide. Bored with these lessons, she decided to skip today. She’d rather do something more productive.

Valka snuck off into the woods whilst her  _ teacher _ was so enthralled in his tall tales that he didn’t notice her sudden disappearance. She crept behind the houses, under carts, and between boxes to avoid getting noticed by any of the adults until she was home free.

The woods were quiet, the light trickling in through the trees. Valka loved the peace and calmness of the woods. After a few minutes of taking in the scenery, she started to get bored. Well, now it’s time to be productive.

Valka walked through the trees, picking up a few sticks here and there and smacking them against the ground until they broke. It usually took just two or three strikes to send half of the branch flying across the grass. Valka kept breaking sticks until she spotted a promising looking branch. It looked to be about her height, give or take a couple of inches. It was also much thicker than the twigs she had been picking up. The bark was smooth as Valka clasped it in her hand. One, two, three, four… She thwacked the branch, kinda hard, into the ground. It didn’t break. Perfect.

Valka had yet to begin any formal training to become a shieldmaiden and neither of her parents were very formidable fighters. Her father was more of a builder while her mother tended to the old and the ill, assisting the resident healer. Her knowledge was very limited.

Valka took her new  _ staff _ towards a little spot in the forest where all the trees were really young. It was a circle of short trees and she assumed that a dragon must have burned all the trees in this patch a while ago. She twisted the staff around and twirled, striking the little trees—still a ways bigger than her—as if they were her opponents.

She’d probably been there for an hour, working up a sweat and hunger, when she heard a rustling behind her. Valka immediately rolled into the nearest cover she could find: a bush. For all she knew, there was a hungry dragon looking for a little snack and Valka was definitely little but definitely not a snack.

She stilled in the bush. It was an ability she had picked up over the years, making herself practically invisible. It’s how she snuck out of class and how she snuck out of other social events she had no longing to be at. She just needed to make herself unnoticeable.

The rustling got louder and louder until she could hear the tiny thumps of footsteps. Thump. Thump. They weren’t very loud so it couldn’t have been something too big. They were also going at a pretty leisurely pace. Valka peered through the leaves of the bushes until she saw movement and a very distinct patch of red hair.

“Stoick?” she exclaimed louder than she had intended to. The boy was looking down at his sandwich and jumped at the sound of his name, turning around to try to find who called him.

“Who’s there?” He tucked his sandwich into his bag and pulled out a kid-sized sword, waving it around. “As the next-in-line to be chief of Berk, I command that you show yourself.” Valka could barely stifle her laugh. She was well aware of his status and his excellency in combat yet, at the moment, he looked so vulnerable. “I have a sword and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Valka crawled out of the bush with her hands up. Now she was laughing. “I’m sorry,  _ next-in-line to be chief _ , but you looked really funny.” Stoick scowled at her and Valka straightened her face as well as her body. She dusted off her skirt and knelt down, bowing her head to Stoick. “Sir,” she teased, “And what exactly are you doing here? Don’t you have class or training or something?”

Stoick rolled his eyes and waved his hands to tell her to stand up. “I was eating.” He pulled his sandwich out again. “It’s quite a nice spot out here.” Stoick sat down on a large rock in the middle of the circle and began eating his sandwich.

“Don’t we eat in the great hall?” Valka dusted off a spot and sat next to Stoick, peering over his shoulder to see what sandwich he was eating.

“Sometimes it’s nice to get away from all of that.” He gestured to the general direction of the building. Valka raised her eyebrow at him and Stoick continued on. “It’s a lot, you know, to be chief. I mean, I’m not even chief yet and I have people approaching me left and right about their problems and making demands at me.”

Valka shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.” She dragged her foot through the sand, making squiggly lines. “I’m not someone of that much importance.”

Stoick laughed, coughing up a little bit of his sandwich. “Being important isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s a lot of responsibility and being told what to do and doing what people want without question because you’re only important when you’re useful to them.” Stoick looked at his sandwich but put it down before taking another bite. “I’d love to be like you.”

“Really?” Valka stopped drawing in the sand so she could read Stoick’s face, but he was looking at the ground and not at her.

“Yeah, you’re cool.” Valka blushed a little, not that Stoick saw. “I mean, look at you. You’re putting up fights with your parents and sneaking out of class and just doing whatever you want.” Valka wasn’t sure if the first two parts of that sentence were meant to be compliments, but she didn’t bother to overthink their implications. “I wish I could do what I wanted.”

Valka opened her mouth to interject—to say,  _ ‘But you’re going to be chief. You get to make the rules. You can do whatever you want.’ _ Stoick didn’t need her to.

“Being chief isn’t that easy.” He leaned back onto the rock, closing his eyes as he faced the sun. “I have a responsibility to my people, not to myself, and their needs come first.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to give up everything,” Valka muttered as she hopped off the rock. It was probably time that she started heading back before her parents sent a search party for her.

“What?” Once again, Valka’s voice was louder than she had intended. She didn’t mean for Stoick to hear what she said, but she definitely meant it. Valka didn’t stop to respond to Stoick’s question.

Stoick was always stubborn.

As Valka was hurriedly walking away, he grabbed her shoulder. His grip wasn’t strong—she could easily slip away—but it did its job at stopping her.

“You know, no one’s ever said that to me.” Valka didn’t want to turn around. If she had been blushing earlier, her face was thoroughly red now. She didn’t move away either. “I’ve had people say they felt bad for me or that they’re sorry or that it sucks, but they never argue the idea that a chief has to give up everything for her people.”

Taking a few deep breaths, Valka turned around and hoped that Stoick wouldn’t notice her changed complexion. “Well, what’s the point of having a chief then if the title’s only meant to break them.” She groaned and rubbed her head. That wasn’t her strongest statement. There’s other useful things that people use only to dispose of them when they no longer work. No. She had a better one. “How can you stand as a chief, standing for you people, if you can’t stand for yourself?”

The two of them were much closer now, Valka’s head to Stoick’s chest. Stoick was about to respond to her when they heard something coming from the direction of the village. Realizing how close they were, the two of them stepped back.

“There ye are,” Gobber bellowed as he pushed through the shrubbery. “I've been lookin’ all o’er for ya’. Your parents want ya’ back. Now.”

Valka and Stoick each pointed at themselves, not sure who Gobber’s command was directed to.

“Both of ya’s.” Quickly, they followed him back out of the woods, but not before Valka slipped away to grab her staff. She’d definitely come here and use it tomorrow and, if she was lucky, maybe a certain next-in-line to be chief would be there too.

* * *

Before Hiccup was the runt of the village, he was just a kid—as were all the other teens.

Hiccup’s mom was taken when he was just a wee little baby and his father was busy being chief of Berk so little Hiccup often found himself in the care of  _ uncle _ Gobber. Gobber was a man of tall tales and fantastical stories.

Dragons were very real and very scary but, in a sense, they were also very boring. Everyone had seen a dragon. Of course, Gobber rambled on about his various encounters with dragons and losing his hands to one, but Hiccup liked his other stories. He especially liked Gobber’s stories about trolls.

Little Hiccup was admittedly scared of dragons—they took his mom—but he wasn’t yet scared of trolls. Armed with the tiny sword his dad used as a kid and his troll-proof name, Hiccup trudged onwards. Today he was going to catch a troll.

Well, he and the other kids.

Astrid found out about his little pastime first when she caught him snooping around as she was throwing her axe at trees. Fishlegs found out next when he asked Hiccup for his notes on dragons and dragon-related inventions and Hiccup accidentally gave him the troll ones. The twins found out when they followed him for a full day, planning the best time and place to enact their next prank. Snotlout didn’t know but, as all the other kids were tagging along with Hiccup, so was he.

Astrid found the whole endeavor laughable. Trolls weren’t real and, if they were, the kidified version of weapons they were touting about would be useless against them. She came as an excuse to try and hunt down a dragon—a real threat. Fishlegs was really hoping that trolls weren’t real and that they wouldn’t find any. The twins took joy in taunting him about it. Once again, Snotlout didn’t know.

Hiccup was the one leading them.

“Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Astrid turned around herself as they entered a particularly dense part of the woods. The sunlight was effectively blocked out by a thick layer of leaves.

“Don’t worry, babe.” Snotlout laid his arm around Astrid and on her shoulder only for her to shove it off. Instead of reacting, Snotlout flexed his  _ muscles _ . “I’ll protect you.”

Everyone rolled their eyes. If anything, Snotlout was a useless scaredy-cat in a fight and Astrid would end up being the one protecting them. However, Astrid was well aware that she couldn’t protect everyone if something were to happen to them in hear; not only because she was just one tiny kid, but also because she couldn’t trust these muttonheads not to do something stupid. Oftentimes, a fight with a dragon was one dragon versus several vikings and the vikings could still lose. Astrid ax could barely cut a tree, let alone the scales of a dragon. Their best bet would be to split up, run, and hope they weren’t the one that the dragon was going after.

“I don’t  _ need _ your protection.” Astrid stomped away from Snotlout and towards Hiccup, trying to snatch his map. “What I do  _ want _ -,” she grunted, -” is to see where exactly it is we’re going.”

“Let go!” Hiccup swatted Astrid’s hands away and she pouted at the boy. “Just trust me. I know what I’m doing.” Astrid muttered something in response but Hiccup didn’t catch it. “The trees make it darker here and trolls like the dark because it makes it harder for people to see them.”

“Wait.” Snotlout looked away from his still-flexed muscles and scrunched his nose. “‘Trolls’? What are we doing with trolls.”

Tuffnut walked up next to Snotlout, shoving him to the other side where his sister took the opportunity to mess up his hair. “What did you think we were doing here, dingus?”

Snotlout shrugged and fixed his hair. “I don’t know. I thought we were just avoiding our parents or something.”

“That’s an added bonus,” Hiccup mumbled, though no one was close enough to hear him.

The group carried on, but Astrid lagged behind and pulled Fishlegs with her. “All right, you and Hiccup are usually the only other smart ones here and-,” Astrid pointed to Hiccup as he looked around and directed the group to turn, -”Hiccup is definitely not acting like it right now.”

Fishlegs nodded. “I know. I mean, there’s no way trolls are real or else someone else would’ve said something about them… right?”

Astrid smacked her head with her own hand. “That’s not what I meant.” She pulled Fishlegs behind a tree so that the others wouldn’t hear them. “There is no way that boy knows where he’s going and I’m not looking to make myself dragon food anytime soon. We should head back before we really get lost.”

They re-entered the  _ trail _ that Hiccup was following and continued talking in hushed voices. “Y’know, you’re not as bad as everyone says.” Fishlegs realized his mistake too late as Astrid grasped the collar of his shirt and quickly began explaining himself. “Well, I mean, everyone knows that you’re really strong and… um… brave and determined and stuff.” She released him and nodded. They both stopped walking. “Some people think that you’re  _ too _ determined and stuff. Like, you’re all about punching but you don’t think things through and you don’t know when to stop or when to give up.”

“I don’t give up-”

“See!” Fishlegs pointed at her and Astrid grabbed his hand, shoving it to his side. “Sometimes the best thing you can do is give up.”

“I don’t give up because I know how to pick and choose my battles.” The statement surprised Fishlegs even more. “What’s the use in humiliating yourself by starting a fight that you can’t finish? That’s how the dragons got my uncle.” 

Fishlegs nodded. It wasn’t full proof, but it was a better mentality than many vikings had. A lot of them would charge into battle without a second thought only to be mauled or mutilated. One day, Astrid Hofferson would take on a battle that she wouldn’t be able to finish, but Fishlegs wouldn’t be the one to tell her that.

Neither Astrid nor Fishlegs realized just how dense and dark the forest was until they looked around and couldn’t see any sign of their friends. They had barely been stopped for a minute or two. Both unsure of what to do, Fishlegs decided the best thing to do was to yell out for the others with Astrid clasping her hand over his mouth seconds later.

“What are you doing!?” she hissed. Fishlegs shook his head and Astrid realized that her grip on him was a bit hard. “There could be something in here and you just told it right where we were.” Fishlegs eyes widened at the thought.

Astrid pulled him off the trail where they waited, still, making sure that nothing was coming for them. They heard a twig snap and both kids held their breath.

“Fishlegs,” the familiar squeaky voice of Hiccup whispered as he glanced around. “Fishlegs?” Not noticing his friends in the brush below him, Hiccup assumed the worst. “Oh no! The trolls must know we’re here and they got Fishlegs and Astrid!”

Astrid chuckled at the misunderstanding and Fishlegs couldn’t help but smile a little too. Trolls were scary but there weren’t any trolls.

“No!” Snotlout cried as he stamped his foot into the ground. “Not my pretty little Astrid. My baby. My sweetheart.” Astrid rolled onto her back and was struggling to stay silent. One hand was clasped over her mouth and the other over her stomach while she quietly laughed. “Take me instead!”

In the deepest, scratchiest voice Astrid could muster, she yelled out, “That could be arranged!” All the kids jumped at the voice, Snotlout jumping into Tuffnut’s arms and hugging him. 

“Hello,” Hiccup called out with his voice far louder and shakier. He waved his sword around and gulped, trying to think of the next best thing to say to save his friends—assuming they were still alive.

Fishlegs caught on to Astrid’s joke and joined in with his own terrible voice. “Oh yes, you’re little friends were quite delectable. Fishlegs and Astrid, isn’t it?”

The pair watched as Snotlout started whimpering into Tuffnut’s shoulder. If the lighting had been better, they would have seen Hiccup’s eyes watering too.

Astrid broke first. She couldn’t hold back the laughter yet, it came out so distorted that it sounded more like she was sobbing. She rolled out of the bush, still in a ball.

“Astrid,” Hiccup yelled and ran over to check for wounds. “I thought you were eaten!” By now, Astrid was hyperventilating and Hiccup told her to breathe. He stood up to run for help but Astrid grabbed his hand, using it to pull herself up.

“Hiccup,” she gasped, still collecting her breath and herself in general. “There are no trolls. Fishlegs and I,-” Astrid gestured to the bush and Fishlegs crawled out of it, face flushed and smiling, -”we're playing a prank on you guys.”

“Sweet!” Ruffnut ran up and smacked the girl in the back. “It looks like we’re finally rubbing off on you.”

Hiccup was stunned. The Astrid Hofferson—the all work and no play girl—was laughing. Not only was she laughing, but she was laughing at him. Fishlegs and the twins were laughing too as Snotlout rubbed his eyes, but Hiccup made no move to change his demeanor.

“So, uh…” Astrid looked at Hiccup and saw that he wasn’t smiling. She had thought that the goofy boy would’ve taken some joy in the joke. “You good.” She waved her hand in front of his face until he jerked his head away. “What now?” she asked.

Hiccup pulled his map back out, reorienting it a few times as he scanned the surrounding area.

Tuffnut leaned in towards Astrid, cupping his hand to her ear as he said, “He’s been doing that for the past ten minutes since we lost you guys.” Astrid audibly groaned and walked up to Hiccup, trying to peer over his shoulder and look at the map. This time he didn’t yank it back or swat her away.

“All right,” he sighed, putting his face in his hands. “So, we are lost.” Snotlout clapped and Astrid would’ve punched him if the situation wasn’t so dire.

“Of course we are.” Astrid slashed the edge of her ax through a tree, making an arrow that pointed right. “So we know we’ve already been here,” she explained.

“Oh no!” Snotlout cried, this time clinging to Astrid instead of Tuffnut and she had to squirm her way out of his unwelcome grip. “We’re actually gonna die! We’re never gonna get out of this forest. I’ll never get to grow up. I’ll never get to kill my first dragon. Or have my first sip of mead. Or my first kiss.” Snotlout paused and turned to look at Astrid. She did not return the feeling.

Astrid stuck her hand out as Snotlout pressed his face into it. “No. Just, no,” she repeated as she walked away, leaving Snotlout to fall flat on his face. “We’re gonna get out of this.” Everyone watched as Astrid walked over to Hiccup and patted him on the back. “Hiccup’s smart. He’ll figure it out.” Snotlout grunted into the ground as the twins laughed and Fishlegs awkwardly rubbed his arms. Hiccup was dragged along as she slapped each of them over the head. “And, we’ll help him.”

“Astrid’s right,” Hiccup said as he pulled his hand out of her grasp. “Alone we have little chance of surviving but, together, we might just make it.” Everyone nodded except for Snotlout who gave a thumbs up from the ground.

“Alright then.” Astrid crossed her arms and walked back towards the others so that they were in-line and facing him. “What next, chief?”

Before Hiccup could speak, they heard rustling behind them, and everyone dive-bombed into the bushes except Snotlout; Hiccup and Astrid had to drag him with them when they jumped. As the only ones with weapons, the two were closest to the trail and ready to strike.

“Kids? I coulda sworn that I just heard ‘em.” Hiccup sighed as he recognized the voice all too well as the one that had told him about trolls in the first place.

“Don’t worry guys.” Hiccup put his sword back in its sheath, stood up, and motioned his hands down as a way to tell the others to calm and stand down. “It’s just Gobber.”

“Or that’s just what the trolls want you to think.” Snotlout's claim was met with another harsh smack in the back of his head by Astrid.

The kids all got up and greeted Gobber with a hug.

“You do know the way back?” Astrid asked him… They’d make it back eventually.

* * *

Hiccup had told his kids, Zephyr and Nuffink, that there had been dragons when he was a boy.

Unfortunately, all the dragons had left before either child was born. Hiccup’s stories were always about dragons being good but Zephyr never quite believed it. She had heard whispers about a time when dragons were a viking’s greatest enemy. They raided villages, stealing livestock and burning houses. How could such a good creature do such bad things?

Zephyr wanted answers. She wanted to capture a dragon and get those answers. The problem was how, as all the dragons had disappeared before she was born. 

Zephyr was a lot like her father. She wasn’t much of a fighter and preferred to use unique contraptions of her own creation. Her plan was to lure the dragons out with some of their favorite things—fresh fish and cooked chicken—before ensnaring them in her trap. However, a girl like her wouldn’t really be good at actually dealing with dragons. She had all the knowledge she needed and more but, gods, she didn’t want to get that close to a dragon.

She enlisted her younger brother, Nuffink, to help. Unlike her, he thought dragons were great. In fact, he really wanted a dragon and threw a fit when he found out he couldn’t get one. He’d love to be near and to touch a dragon and that was all Zephyr needed to convince her brother.

Zephyr and her brother set out when she knew her parents would be too busy to notice their absence. Her father was at some sort of important chieftain meeting and her mother was running the village in the meantime. They snuck out right after breakfast.

Armed only with the tiny sword and ax their parents had used when they were kids, the siblings trekked through the woods to where Zephyr had set up the contraption. It worked kinda like a bear trap but, instead of sharp metal teeth clasping the paw of its victim, it caged its prey. Zephyr’s invention was much larger than a paw; it could fit several people in it. It could probably fit a medium-sized dragon.

Zephyr kept her father’s sword in its sheath, attached to her belt. In a basket, she had the fresh fish and chicken. It stank and Zephyr struggled not to gag as the top of the basket was right under her nose. She also had a little sack with her notes.

Zephyr was slow, trying not to drop the basket. It was heavy and Zephyr knew that, if she leaned too far to one side, she’d crash. Also, the basket was making it hard to see where she was walking and Zephyr had to go really slow to avoid tripping. 

Nuffink, in contrast, was bouncing around as he waved his ax through the air. She was starting to regret inviting him after he jumped right in front of where she was walking and almost knocked her over twice. Their father was an only child and sometimes she envied that fact.

Zephyr stopped as they reached the clearing, relieved that she could finally put the basket down.

“Alright, Nuffink,” she called to the boy as he continued skipping through the clearing. “Nuffink!” she yelled at him. He didn’t respond and Zephyr was starting to believe that it was on purpose. She picked up a tiny pebble and threw it at him. It hit his head—by accident, actually; it wasn’t hard enough to hurt much but it made a sound on impact. “Nuffink. Do not set off the trap while I put the bait in it.” She looked at him, waiting for his reply, until he nodded.

Zephyr walked around the perimeter of the clearing, hoisting up large rocks the size of her head and placing them onto the wooden circle of the trap. The rocks would hold down the cage from closing as Zephyr stepping onto the platform to put on the bait would otherwise trigger it.

After placing the last rock, Zephyr picked up the basket once more and carried it to the platform that she had covered with plants and dirt. She was about to dump the bait when she glanced around and realized she could no longer see her little brother.

“Nuffink,” she whined. “Get back out here. I am not your babysitter and I am not going to look for you if you get lost.” No response. She groaned and decided that she would look for him after she placed the bait. The dragons never came, anyways. She’d have the time.

Zephyr counted the fish as they fell out of the basket; there wasn’t much chicken to spare on this little experiment. One, two, three, four… Zephyr had gotten her brother to help her catch a whopping ten fish yesterday and she planned on using all of them. The more fish, the stronger the smell and, the stronger the smell, the more likely a dragon would fall for her trap. 

Seven, eight, nine… The last fish was having a bit of trouble getting out of the basket. She shook the basket but it didn’t budge. The basket was deeper than her arm could reach so she had to set it down and practically climb halfway in. When she got back out she saw Nuffink… and all the rocks she had placed to stop the trap from closing on them.

“Nuffink!” If her hands weren’t covered in the smell and  _ ooze _ of fish, she would’ve smacked herself in the forehead and then Nuffink. Yeah. Sometimes she really wished that she didn’t have a little brother.

Predictably, the trapped closed on them. It was kind of slower than she had wanted it to be, but they wouldn’t have made it anyways as two tiny, weak humans. The sticks that made up the bars of the cage were too close together for either child to slip through and their bindings were set with hardened tree sap. The sticks themselves were relatively sturdy, but they might break if Zephyr just kept hitting them with her sword. But, she had some other business to attend to first.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you had just listened to me.” She scowled at him and he cowered under her.

It was kinda ironic. If anything, Zephyr should’ve been more afraid of him. Nuffink took after their mother. He really liked all that fighting and training stuff. Zephyr was only stronger in age, intelligence, and size. Nuffink was doing good with his training and, despite being younger, he could beat Zephyr at arm wrestling. Zephyr wasn’t good at fights. She was only as intimidating as her words and whatever crazy, stupid plans she came up with. She didn’t care to be good at fights.

Nuffink had turned away from Zephyr, staring at the ground as he kicked around the fish. “Well, you didn’t say anything about the rocks,” he muttered.

“I told you to come here.” As if to emphasize her statement, she stamped her foot on the platform and straightened her arm to point down.

“I was just trying to help,” he protested. “I knew that you’d need to move the rocks back off to get the trap to work so I thought I’d do it for you.”

“If you were really that intuitive you would’ve known that those rocks were the only thing keeping me from being trapped.” Zephyr walked around the cage, mindlessly tapping the  _ bars _ as she hoped to find one weaker than the others. “Y’know, it’s times like these that I wish I was an only child.”

She said it out loud and she meant it and she meant for him to hear it yet when she heard his stifled sniffling, she couldn’t help but feel bad. The damage had already been done. The worst thing she could’ve said to him had already been stated. She might as well get everything else off her chest before she went and apologized.

“You’re a lot like mom, right?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. It was a rhetorical question to which the answer was ‘yes’. “I’m a lot like dad. It’s flipped. I’m the girl and I should be like mom while you should be like dad.” Nuffink wiped away his tears, slowing his breath so that he could listen to her rather than his ragged inhales and exhales. “Sometimes I really wish I was more like mom. Don’t get me wrong, I love dad, but he’s a little… out there. Take now, for instance. He’s off at his meeting and mom’s the one who’s here.” Zephyr waved her arms around as if to gesture to where Hiccup was, not that she could tell the direction from here. “Even when he’s home, he’s distant. It’s like his mind is somewhere else.” Zephyr stopped pacing around the cage, stopped tapping the wood, for a second. “It’s with the dragons… You’re a lot like mom, even though you’re a boy, and you’re really close to her and she’s here. I’m a lot like dad and I can’t find him.”

“Are you jealous?”

“No,” Zephyr said instinctively, but she knew that wasn’t the full answer. “It’s not so much a problem with you. It’s a problem with dad.” Zephyr began kicking one of the bars. “I guess I’ve always thought that, if you weren’t born, I’d get more of mom’s attention, and at least I’d have something.”

“I’m sorry.” Nuffink walked up to his older sister and gave her a hug. In return, she ruffled his hair.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s, really. It’s just the way things are.” The two kids stayed there, hugging each other, for a solid minute or two until Nuffink finally pulled back. 

They still needed to get out of this thing. Zephyr began slashing at the wood, but her blade was meant more for the tenderness of flesh and not the hard bark they were trapped in. Slowly, she could see her sword making progress on the outer layer, but that was only a beauty mark and it did nothing to actually weaken the bar.

“Hey, Nuff, do you still have your ax on you.” The boy eagerly nodded before racing back to the platform and picking it up from beside the fish. “Swords are made for cutting people and sometimes animals, but they’re soft inside. Axes are made for cutting trees and these bars-,” Zephyr patted the cage she made, -”are made from trees.”

Nuffink smiled and began hacking away at the bars. It still took a decent amount of time and Zephyr helped however feebly she could with her duller-than-it-should-be-because-it’s-generations-old-and-used-for-kids sword. By the time they got out, they heard someone approaching and they both ducked behind a rock for cover.

“A dragon,” Nuffink explained. “I knew they were real.” Zephyr didn’t say anything, but she had a wild grin too.

She had a wild grin until she heard the voice calling out to them.

“Zephyr! Nuffink! And what in the name of Odin is-”  _ Snap _ . Zephyr and Nuffink raced out to see Gobber stuck halfway through their child-sized escape hole. “Oh, there you are. Yer mum’s been looking for yers for lunch.”

The siblings laughed as they dragged Gobber out of the hole.

“And don’t tell your mother or father that I let you make this.” It wasn’t his fault but he was kinda the guardian of the forest at this point and witness to all the wild adventures that have happened within its boundaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to the HTTYD Wiki, Stoick is ten years older than Valka… So, I changed that. Gobber is five years older than Stoick. I don’t explicitly state their ages, but they’re all much closer.  
> Everything I’ve seen with Zephyr & Nuffink has been from clips on YouTube so my characterizations of them have been based on limited knowledge. Also, obviously, this takes place before they met Toothless or any other dragons.  
> I don’t know where ‘little troll hunting Hiccup’ came from, but I love it.  
> Astrid is my favorite character and it shows. Also, I regrettably didn’t give the twins much attention.  
> I winged Zephyr & Nuffink’s part being before Homecoming but with some elements from Homecoming like Zephyr wanting to hunt/kill dragons.


	6. Sinful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hiccup’s father is chief of police but Hiccup finds himself enamoured into a life of crime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> August 1st, 2020  
> 5,448 Words  
> Rated T  
> Hiccup, Stoick, Thuggory, Viggo, Dagur, Eret, Ryker  
> Mentioned Stalka  
> Criminal + Modern AU, Language, Violence, Death

_**Sinful** _

* * *

If Hiccup’s father wasn’t a cop, he probably wouldn’t have ended up being a criminal.

Every move he made, every bad thing he did, was just to spite the man that made him loathe his entire life. From when they left town—his mother’s town with all his friends and the only father figure he felt he had: Gobber—to when Stoick forced his son into self-defense training because he didn’t believe in him, Hiccup felt like his father was ruining his life.

Murderous was a much dirtier place than Berk and, as the name implied, it was heavy in violence. The town always seemed to have some thick smog through the air coming from the factory nearby. The buildings—tall blocks placed closely together in rows—were colorless and looked devoid of life. There was no greenery or plant-life and, if you wanted to live, you never went outside anyways.

Hiccup despised Murderous when they first moved there. Stoick claimed that it would be better; he was leaving to work a better job. He’d make more money and would be able to provide Hiccup with more, but he never provided Hiccup with the things that were really important. Time. Attention. Respect.  _ Love _ .

Stoick was a regular old police officer in Berk but a damned good one at that. He was stubborn and arrogant at times, but his persistence led to the solving of many cases that everyone else had deemed a lost cause. He was not afraid to stand up for and help people and he could take a tussle here and there. People respected him, including his higher-ups. In fact, it was his boss that recommended him to become chief of police in Murderous after their previous one was  _ out of commission _ .

They moved when Hiccup was at that awkward age with people either telling him that he’s too young to know what’s good for him or that he’s too old to be acting like a child and he needs to grow up. Stoick told him both when Hiccup complained about moving. He was too young to understand that it would actually be a good thing for him and too old to be throwing a fit over it. He needed to grow up, so he did.

Hiccup’s dad was gone most of the day. Sometimes, when working on cases that required special attention, he was gone most of the night too. Hiccup could easily go a week without ever actually seeing or talking to his dad. There was always food in the house that Hiccup learned how to cook and, if he ever needed it, his dad would drop what he was doing immediately to help Hiccup. Hiccup just had to ask and he never did.

His first time wasn’t that bad. His dad would actually be home that afternoon and Hiccup was stalling. He never liked being in the same room with his dad anymore. It usually ended with both of them yelling, Hiccup slamming the door as he locked himself in his room, and Stoick cursing himself and his son. Hiccup was walking home from school and he was stalling and he was getting bored.

On a whim, he entered this little gas station that was only populated by the one employee.

* * *

“Hey,” the cashier called to him from behind the register. “You need to be twenty-one to buy those.” He pointed to the small box in Hiccup’s hand.  _ Cigarettes _ . Hiccup had yet to start smoking or drinking or anything but all this yelling from his dad made the idea really tempting. 

Even if Hiccup had a fake ID, he wouldn’t have been able to fool the cashier. He was this short, scraggly little kid. Everyone at school scoffed at him when he tried to talk to them. No one wanted to be around  _ some kid _ . Hiccup put the box down and began looking at some other things like chips and soda.

His phone rang. Hiccup walked to the back corner of the store and answered as the cashier kept his eye on him, waiting for the boy to do something else he could scold him for. Well, he didn’t look to be twenty-one either.

“Hiccup? Where are you? It’s been an hour since school ended!” Hiccup hated the sound of his father’s voice. It was thick and a little hoarse and just drove him nuts for reasons he couldn’t quite name.

He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, dad,” he lied through his teeth; he was most certainly not sorry. “I was at the library working on something. I told you this morning but you must’ve not heard me.” Another lie, not that his father would be able to argue it. There were only two witnesses and it was his word against his son’s. “I just left. I’ll be home in, like, thirty minutes.” 

“Alright, son. Don’t be late. We have that event to go to tonight.” With that, Stoick hung up and Hiccup was left alone in the store. The cashier, no longer interested in the boy’s phone call, had gone to restock one of the shelves.

* * *

As previously stated, Hiccup would not have become a criminal if his dad weren’t a cop; everything he did was to spite his father. If Hiccup hadn’t been agitated by his father’s phone call, he wouldn’t have felt the need to do something stupid. He swiped the cigarettes while the cashier was distracted and walked out of the store. No one came after him.

Hiccup never smoked that particular pack of cigarettes, though he would smoke many more. He never smoked that pack because he had no desire to. He took them to steal. To do something bad. To spit on his father’s good name. That was just crime number one.

After that incident, Hiccup had become an amateur kleptomaniac. He never went after anything big and his plans weren’t ever anything extravagant because he knew that everyone else knew he was a thief. They just didn’t care. He never stole anything valuable. Petty thievery was far from the worst thing someone could do in Murderous.

He hadn’t been stealing for long before someone approached him about it. However, it was not his father or the police that did. Some kids at school, self-proclaimed outcasts, had asked him if he wanted in on something bigger. 

There’s a jewelry store near the edge of the downtown area. It’s a father and son place, though the son recently had an accident that’s placed him in the hospital for the last few weeks. He’s still there. Unfortunately for the outcasts, one of their own was in the hospital and he had been for the last few weeks. They needed a temporary replacement. It would be his trial run so they could see if they wanted to keep him or not. He agreed.

Hiccup almost felt bad. The man was old and, as he was told, had dementia. His wife had passed a few years ago but he still asked to see her. His son had mostly taken over the business by then, but the old man still helped out.

They assured Hiccup that, if everything went to plan, no one would get hurt. Everyone—including the old man—would walk out of there alive. They told him to dress nicely, but to pick clothes he wasn’t afraid to get a little dirty. He put on black pants, black shoes, and a maroon button up. They skipped class on a Friday.

They were well aware that Hiccup was the chief of police’s son.

The plan was for Viggo, their leader, to walk in and converse with the old man. Eret would wander around the store using a device from their buyer to disable the alarm system. It was simple enough. He would place the device on the case, close to the sensor, and it would send signals to jam the system. It took about three seconds. To keep things inconspicuous, Eret would not be the one stealing the goods. Ryker would also wander around the store, picking up jewelry from the cases Eret disarmed when he knew the old man wasn’t looking. Dagur was the getaway driver; he was the only confident and skilled at the wheel. Hiccup was drafted as a techie. The security system was rudimentary and easily hackable, but everyone was already busy with their jobs. Hiccup would hack the security and put the feed on a loop so that, when the police inevitably went back to look at it, they wouldn’t see the criminals’ faces. Dagur would be in the van with Hiccup, across the street, helping him. However, he also had to watch and make sure no one took interest in the vehicle or swiped their license plate number. It was a simple plan.

* * *

“Okay, so, all I do is watch the security feed and, if I see anything suspicious, I text you guys?” Hiccup’s setup was laughable. He was sitting criss-cross on the floor of the van with just a laptop and his phone. Why did they even tell him to  _ dress nicely _ if they were the only people that were going to see.

“I know it seems unnecessary and like quite the boring job but, I assure you, everybody’s position is essential.” Viggo patted the boy on the back before slipping a knife into his pocket. “Gods forbid that something were to happen to any of my men because I didn’t take the proper precautions.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes internally. Sure, the crime was bigger, but he felt like he had taken a step back with his play part in the theft. There was a thrill with walking out of the store, having to calm yourself so that no one could read your guilt, and then running as soon as you were out of sight so that they wouldn’t be able to catch you. Hiccup really only stole for the thrill and for the fact that his extracurricular activities would absolutely piss his dad off.

“Don’t worry, brother-” Dagur was perhaps the most enthusiastic of the group, at least visibly and audibly. Maybe he was even too enthusiastic. “You and I get to have some bonding time.”

Another boy, black-haired, patted Hiccup on the dead. “Don’t worry. If you run now, I wouldn’t hold it against you.” The boy, Eret, also slipped a knife into his back pocket. “I would not be able to survive five-minutes alone with Dagur.”

Dagur glared daggers at Eret but Eret only shrugged in response.

“All right, men.” Viggo handed Eret the device as Ryker picked up an empty bag. “It’s time to go.” The field team put on their hats and hoods and sunglasses to conceal their identities. Dagur checked the sides of the van with his mirrors to see if there were any witnesses and, when he was sure there weren’t any, he gave the trio the all-clear.

A few minutes later, Hiccup was both bored and very annoyed that Dagur wouldn’t shut up. He kept jabbering on and on about his life and how he came to Murderous and how he became a criminal. Hiccup just nodded and occasionally said ‘yeah’ or agreed to whatever else Dagur was saying.

“So, how does the son of the chief of police become a criminal?” Dagur looked at the rearview mirror so that he could see Hiccup without turning around. “I mean, you’d think that you’d be quite the opposite.”

Hiccup scoffed. He knew the answer easily and he knew it very well. “Well, when your dad is never around to raise you right, you come out wrong.” 

Dagur turned his head a little so that Hiccup was looking at the side of his face. “But what about you? Like, okay, your dad didn’t raise you to be  _ super _ righteous. That doesn’t make everybody thieves or muggers or conmen.” 

“As you said, my dad wants me to be super righteous.” Hiccup huffed and clicked through the various security feeds. “I want to make his life as much of a living Hel as he has made mine.”

Dagur rolled his eyes. “What’s in it for you, though?” Hiccup was getting really, really annoyed. He had already given Dagur his answer. Couldn’t he shut up? “You’ve only told me about how it affects your dad.” Dagur paused and turned back to face the windshield of the van. “Viggo’s not gonna like that answer. It’s shallow. You don’t sound like  _ you _ want to be here. And, if you don’t want to be here, then you’re not gonna be willing to do all the stuff we ask you to.”

“Well, what’s in it for all of you guys, then?”

“We’re hungry, Hiccup.” To emphasize, Dagur snarled into the rearview mirror. “We want things that we can’t have unless we take them. We have drive. Motivation. Goals that we’re willing to do anything to reach.” Dagur looked down at something Hiccup couldn’t see. “If you don’t have that, then you don’t belong here.”

“So you’re telling me that I don’t belong here?” Hiccup sighed, though he wasn’t disappointed. The idea of companionship was nice but this heist was far from enjoyable.

“No, Hiccup.” Dagur glanced at his side mirror and saw that Ryker had just left the store. The others would follow soon. “I’m telling you what you need to say. You seem like a cool kid. We’ve watched you in class. You’re smart. And we’ve tracked your record. Most people wouldn’t take as many risks as you have. They’d think that they were just lucky after their first steal and they’d wait days, sometimes months, to strike again. You were quick to keep going and you haven’t been stopped. Viggo’s gonna ask you some questions and, if you wanna stay on, you’re gonna have to answer them correctly.”

The door opened and Dagur greeted Ryker with a tone of much less seriousness than the one he had used with Hiccup moments ago. Hiccup closed the laptop now that they were safe and sighed. Maybe he would stay and give them a trial run too. Hopefully, things would get better once he’s proven himself.

* * *

Besides the outcasts, Hiccup’s only other companions were his cat, Toothless, and his friend, Thuggory. Now, Thuggory was a  _ “perfect example of what a fine young man should be” _ according to his father. Hiccup really only kept him as his friend because of his father’s insistence. The boy was nice but Hiccup wasn’t one to get close to anybody. He had left all his friendships behind with his friends in Berk.

Thuggory was a good man, unlike the outcasts. He wasn’t very popular in school but he did have friends. Real friends and not just people with common interests like Hiccup had. He was extra charitable compared to the people of Murderous; he was always willing to let people vent to him and tried to give them useful advice, he helped old ladies cross the street, he always had extra candy to share with the little kids, he volunteered at the orphanage, and so on and so forth. Hiccup hated Thuggory because he was all that he wasn’t but everything he should be.

Hiccup liked Thuggory because he was a genuine pleasure to hang out with. They played games, told jokes, and helped each other out with classwork. Thuggory had a suspicion about what Hiccup did when no one was looking but he never ratted him out. Thuggory himself did things that would make people look at him in shame. In Murderous, you kept to yourself to avoid trouble. Thuggory did not. He punched thieves and rapists. Sometimes people teased him for being a  _ “little detective” _ and told him that he shouldn’t go looking for answers he won’t like. He was the one who exposed the local elementary school principal as having aided a little girl’s murderers. 

Thuggory did other things too that were technically illegal. He  _ “vandalized” _ buildings with posters that pleaded for information on various unsolved cases. He skipped far too many classes to stand in protest against the closing and bulldozing of several small businesses. He broke into guys houses and deleted girls’ nude pics off of their phones before destroying their phones. He got into fights protecting people.

Hiccup knew that this was who his father wanted him to be: a hero. Hiccup just couldn’t bring himself to be it. He was… He didn’t know why. Not yet.

Hiccup hated Thuggory as much as he loved him. He wanted to keep him around but he knew he couldn’t with their stark contrasts in lifestyle, so he came up with a plan.

Something Thuggory had confided in him was that he used to be a doormat and a people pleaser and a pushover. He still was, to some extent. He never wanted to hurt people so he did whatever to avoid it. He had a little record when he was younger and Hiccup studied him closely.

He had a plan.

* * *

“Hey, Thuggs.” Class had just ended and Thuggory was still gathering his things. “I’m headed to the grocery store across the street. Meet me there.”

Thuggory didn’t question this command because it was somewhat routine to them. Thuggs usually had to clean up after class, being an attentive student who waited until the bell to stop working. Hiccup, instead of waiting, would head to the grocery store or the gas station down the street. He liked to watch the people and sometimes he  _ bought _ a snack. Thuggory would catch up soon enough.

When Thuggory walked into the store, Hiccup pulled him to the side so that they were hidden in the hallway with the restrooms. “Okay, look.” Hiccup placed his hand over Thuggory’s mouth so he couldn’t respond until Hiccup wanted him to. “I got into a little shit and I need your help. You in?”

Hiccup removed his hand Thuggory wiped his mouth before responding. “What kinda shit did you get into? Do you need me to call the police? Can your dad not help you?”

Hiccup wanted to laugh at that last question, but he remained serious and stoned faced. “I can’t tell you anything until you say that you’re in.” Thuggory narrowed his eyes at Hiccup but the latter knew that he would say ‘yes’ anyway. “So, are you in?”

Thuggory slowly nodded. 

“Great.” Hiccup pulled Thuggory out of the hallway and out of the store. “I’ll be back in ten- fifteen minutes.” He slapped one hand onto Thuggory’s shoulder and smiled. “I hope you’re not planning on doing anything later today… or tomorrow morning.”

Thuggory stood outside the grocery store, confused but trusting his friend. Sometimes people don’t like talking about things and he understood that. He’d help them anyways.

Hiccup didn’t return on foot. A white van rolled up and stopped in front of Thuggory. The back door opened and all of Thuggory’s instincts told him not to get in, but he did nevertheless.

Inside the van sat the rest of the gang: Dagur at the wheel, Viggo riding shotgun, and everybody else in the back. Thuggory gulped. Just what exactly had Hiccup gotten himself into to be hanging out with the outcasts?

Hiccup pulled Thuggory aside as everyone else was busy trying to tune out whatever Dagur was saying.

“I know you have a lot of questions but I can’t give you a lot of answers. I just need you to trust me.” Hiccup stuck his hand out for Thuggory to shake. “I would never do anything to hurt you. I just need you to help me this once so nothing bad happens.”

Thuggory took Hiccup’s hand. “I better not regret this, Hiccup.”

Out loud, he said, “You won’t,” but internally, he knew Thuggory would.

The drive was long as they drove out of the city and to the richest part of town. Viggo gave everybody the game plan.

“The woman that lives here is alone and vulnerable.” Thuggory winced at this. He would try to do whatever Hiccup asked but he couldn’t just let some innocent get hurt. “However, her house isn’t.” Viggo motioned to Thuggory and Hiccup. “Murderous’ golden boy and the son of the chief of police will lure her out. She wouldn’t suspect two good kids of having malicious intentions. Thuggory will distract her with some meaningless rambling as Hiccup connects to the house’s security system and disables the alarms. That’s all I need you for.”

Thuggory frowned. He didn’t like the way this sounded and, though he was afraid to anger the others, he spoke. “What are you gonna do after? And why do you need me of all people? What if we get caught? I-” He looked at Hiccup and it felt like his heart stopped. His friend was teary eyed as he refused to look up at the ground. “I’ll do it but only if you don’t hurt the woman.”

Viggo scoffed. “Of course we won’t hurt the women… unless we have to.” Dagur and the others laughed. “We wouldn’t want to create more problems than we need to, but I do what I must to protect my people.”

With that, Ryker and Eret shoved Thuggory and Hiccup out of the van.

“Hiccup-”

“I know, but I promise, they won’t hurt her if we do what we’re told.” Hiccup was fidgeting with something—the device to disable the alarms, Thuggory presumed—as the two walked up to the house. “You’re gonna have to do most of the talking. It’s why Viggo asked me to bring you in. I may be the son of the chief of police but I don’t have the friendliest reputation. This woman has a problem with…  _ men _ . You’ve dealt with this before. She’ll trust you. Tell her that we were driving through the area because it looks nice and my cat jumped out of the car so now we’re looking for him.”

“Right,” Thuggory groaned, “Because that doesn’t sound suspicious at all.”

The two boys walked up to the door of the mansion. The van was out of sight but Hiccup knew that the others were close behind them. Thuggory knocked on the door.

“Hello?” A young woman clad in a long flowy dress answered the door. She didn’t open it fully and the boys knew they needed to lure her out.

“Um, excuse me, miss. I was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions.” Thuggory smiled at the woman. “We’re here about a case involving domestic abuse in the neighborhood. Everything would be off-book but your assistance would be greatly appreciated.”

Now, this caught Hiccup a little off guard. Thuggory had lied so quickly and so smoothly and Hiccup wasn’t entirely sure of what his intentions were.

“Oh, uh…” The woman fumbled with her long hair, letting go of the door and it nudged open a little bit more. “Are you sure I’d be of any use? I mean, I don’t really know my neighbors-”

“Look, I’m gonna be blunt. You know who I am, right?” The woman nodded. “And you can see that he and I are just kids. Our words don’t mean much, but yours could mean everything. You could really help this family out.” Thuggory got closer to the door and to the woman. “You know how it feels, right? We’ve heard about your  _ history _ from sources I shall not name. Even if you can’t give us evidence to use in this investigation, any advice or personal experiences of yours that we could reference would be very helpful.” Thuggory stuck out his hand and the woman took it. He led her out of the house and onto the bench on her porch. “I promise that if you feel uncomfortable at any moment, you can leave.”

Thuggory gave Hiccup the thumbs up to do his thing. He coerced the woman into recounting her past, softly consoling her until Hiccup tapped him on the back.

“Thank you, ma’am, for your compliance.” Hiccup feigned a grin. “But it’s getting late and we really should be going.” 

“Thank you for listening to me.” She gave Thuggory a hug as they both got up. “I haven’t had anyone I felt like I could really talk to for a long time.”

Having eavesdropped on the conversation, Hiccup almost felt bad about what was going to happen next to the woman. Almost. She was still some rich bitch with more than she needed and more than she deserved.

Dagur opened the van doors for the boys to get in. The others were nowhere to be seen.

“I’m taking you two home now. The others won’t be ready until after I get back and we didn’t want to keep your friend here longer than he needed to be.”

Both boys remained silent for the rest of the ride home while Dagur rambled on and on. However, as they left, Hiccup muttered something that chilled Thuggory to the bone.

_ “You’re almost as good a liar as me.” _

* * *

As Thuggory would later come to find out, Hiccup and Viggo had lied to him. The woman was found dead a few days later when a neighbor became concerned that they hadn’t seen her in a while and the light to her room was always on. Her throat was slit and she had a knife in her hand. It would’ve made sense to everyone else. A woman so troubled with her past traumas took her own life.

Thuggory knew better than that.

Hiccup approached him later, crying. He pleaded innocent and said that he didn’t know Viggo would do that and he was scared of the outcasts and of what his father would do if they found out. Thuggory brushed off the slight twitch of Hiccup’s mouth when the latter asked him what would happen if people found out about his involvement in the murder. It was a threat disguised as concern and Thuggory was helpless against it.

The outcasts pulled Thuggory in a few more times, now a lot more hostile. They reminded him that they could ruin him if people found out about his actions. They could kill him too. They had already killed others. Hiccup told Thuggory that he was being blackmailed too and that neither could report the outcasts. He couldn’t live with the thought of his father finding out the truth.

Thuggory obliged.

Hiccup liked Thuggory a lot better now. Hiccup liked how easily he could ruin and corrupt the  _ “perfect example of what a fine young man should be” _ .

* * *

This would be their biggest heist yet. It would be an operation in broad daylight. There would be multiple people, better security systems, and trained guards just waiting for something like this. But the opportunity was one that could not be missed.

The school was taking a trip to the local bank. However, this bank was used for more than just the city of Murderous. Murderous was positioned near a really big city; it was only an hour or two away. Years back, that big city decided that they shouldn’t keep all of their valuables in the city where people were always nearby and ready to strike. It was within hand’s reach. They moved a decent amount of their reserves to Murderous so it’d be safer. They were wrong.

Thuggory was nervous and Hiccup was a little anxious too. This plan could go very wrong at any moment. The kids were gonna go in. One of them would claim to have left something important behind—Hiccup had allergies that he carried an epi-pen for and the kids were going to eat lunch on site in the beautiful building. A chaperone would go with him and Hiccup would knock him out. It’d be best to get the creepy old guy with the bald spot that looks like Antarctica, Thuggory said. He had a bit of a record that was swept under the rug so the school let him chaperone his daughter and her friends. They were gonna pin this on the chaperone.

Hiccup would put on his disguise that he packed in his lunchbox and sneak to the back entrance. His hacking skills had gotten better overtime and, once again, the boys’ buyer filled in the gaps. He would disable the security and the lights, giving the rest of the gang cover to put on their disguises. They’d have a mask that would distort their voices and hide their faces. They’d have guns.

The security would make the students the priority. They wouldn’t want that blood on their hands and tarnishing their career. Thuggory, Hiccup, Dagur, and Eret would keep the guards’ attention on them while Viggo and Ryker would steal the goods. They’d take hostages and walk out. They’d drive away, threatening to shoot the kids if anyone followed. They’d drop the kids off, of course. They’d drop them off at a gas station really far away before leaving town.

Hiccup was going to leave town, as was everyone else. Even Thuggory, who didn’t want to go but knew that he’d get caught if he stayed.

It wasn’t supposed to go this wrong.

Hiccup had spent a long time as a criminal—a thief, a murderer—without his father knowing. Then he just had to show up. He should’ve known. His father was following this case. What exactly Stoick knew, Hiccup was unsure. He didn’t want to find out.

Hiccup and Thuggory crouched behind the desk as Stoick bellowed, “Your friends already left. My people are following them and I assure you that they will not get away this time.” They were surrounded. “Make this easy. Come out with your hands up.”

Thuggory was having an anxiety attack. Hiccup could hear him choking on his breath. He was crying. “Hic, what are we gonna do?”

Hiccup never thought about killing his dad before. No matter how much he hated his dad, he never thought of himself as a killer. Viggo and the others were killers. He was only ever an accessory.

“I’m not going down without a fight.” Thuggory coughed and took Hiccup’s hand. He was shaking. “Everything will be alright,” Hiccup assured him.

Hiccup pulled Thuggory up with him as he held his hand up, palms out. Their masks were still on. Hiccup was about to pull the gun out of Thuggory’s pocket but he was too late. There was a bang and Hiccup watched Thuggory crumple to the floor. His mask cracked and he could see the blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

Fuck.

Hiccup was looking behind him and he didn’t notice the police officer charging at him, diving through the broken barriers that separated outsides from the bank tellers and shoving him to the ground. His mask broke upon collision.

“Hiccup?”

Of course his father had to be here. He cursed himself. Fuck. Thuggory was a good kid and he never should've dragged him into this mess.

“Hiccup.”

Gods. He shouldn’t have been in this mess either. He didn’t have the drive. Dagur was right. He didn’t fit in with the outcasts. That’s probably why they left him. He never should’ve trusted them.

“Hiccup!”

Shit. What was he gonna do now? His friend is dead, his allies have abandoned him, and his father is about ready to kill and disown him too. He had to think of something.

“NOOO!!!” It’s all he could say, but then the lie started flowing like it had through Thuggory some time ago. Whatever it was that made Hiccup steal—that compulsion—started flowing through him stronger than ever. “I- I’m sorry. I didn’t- I- I didn’t want to!” Hiccup’s face was being half pushed into the ground as he felt cool metal against his wrist. “They told me I had to do it or else they’d hurt someone else!” He looked straight at Stoick with big, watery eyes. “They said they’d hurt you.”

“Oh cut the bullshit, boy!” Stoick’s face was red and he had squeezed his eyes shut, but Hiccup could see that he was crying too. “I know what you’ve been doin’ and I’ve been denyin’ it for too long.” The police officer hoisted Hiccup off the ground, keeping his head facing out. Hiccup couldn’t see Thuggory anymore.

“But dad-”

“No.” He didn’t scream this time and just rubbed his forehead. “You are not innocent and you are not my son.” As Hiccup was escorted to the cop car, he heard his father mumble, “I never shoulda taken him away from Berk.”

That was the last he heard from his father as now he spent all his time locked in his cell with a life sentence and a guilty conscience that made it all the worse. He could no longer redeem himself. Thuggory was perfect. His father was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not basing Murderous after Murderous from the books as much as I’m just using the name and it kinda fit the theme.  
> According to the internet, the legal age to buy cigarettes in the US changed from 18 to 21 a few months or a few years ago.  
> I never read the books so I’m using the internet to characterize Thuggory and he is OOC.  
> I also don’t know anything about thievery and these scenes are based on whatever heists I have seen on TV or in movies.  
> I was gonna write this so differently but, as it went along, I made changes. Note that I imagined “the buyer” I mentioned who supplied gadgets to the outcasts as Grimmel. Oh well. You can only fit so much into one one-shot.


	7. The Other Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A look into how Fishlegs ended up vying for Ruffnut when he and Heather were a thing in RTTE.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> August 2nd, 2020  
> 3,963 Words  
> Rated K+/T  
> Heather, Mala, Astrid, Dagur, Fishlegs, Ruffnutt  
> Past/One-Sided Heathlegs, Rufflegs  
> Could be canon until the end, a bit OOC

_** The Other Woman ** _

* * *

Heather loved him—she really did—so she let him go.

It happened after her best friend got betrothed and her brother got married and the riders left the edge and she decided to stay with the Berserkers. It got her thinking about where she wanted to be and where everyone else was going and where her priorities were. It made her a little confused, honestly.

Heather had a home with the dragon riders, yet she couldn’t bring herself to stay with them when they went back to Berk. Her home with the dragon riders was not with Berk. Her home was with her tribe. Her home was with her brother and his new wife. Her home was with them. Heather knew that, if she moved to Berk, it would be more of a commitment and far more permanent. It was something she wasn’t sure if she could follow through on.

So, Heather stayed with the Berserker tribe and with her brother and subjected herself to all of the what if’s. She was well aware that her first time in Berk did not go over smoothly and that she was a poor orphan girl turned criminal before anything else. The Berserkers liked her; she’d have to work hard to gain the trust of everyone in Berk. Berk would not feel like home. It would feel like she was intruding in someone else’s house and she’s already felt like the villain enough.

And him. They had been long distance before. They wrote and sent letters to each other all the time, but that was child’s play. The riders were still living at the edge. They had a place for her and she could visit at any time. The riders were still living at the edge. Despite all of the danger they had been in and trouble they had been through, they felt invincible. 

The riders were leaving on the edge and that’s when Heather realized that they all were really growing up. They had responsibilities and their choices could affect the rest of their lives. Heather spent several nights thinking about it—her future, her future  _ with him _ . She could see it but, for some reason, she couldn’t believe it.

She saw how their relationship was taking a toll on him too.

He was always a bit more reserved and anxious than the others—except maybe Hiccup. It was adorable to Heather and one of the reasons why she liked him. He was a sensitive guy and not afraid to share his own vulnerabilities which made Heather feel so much better about hers. However, she noticed he had become much less talkative whenever she came to visit, which was also becoming a rarer and rarer occurrence. She asked the others if they had noticed and they just shrugged. After their stint with independence and freedom, they were all just adjusting to the thought of going home.

She noticed the passion drain from him as it did in her too. They were barely talking. Even when they were in the same room together,  _ alone _ , they didn’t talk. She felt like they were drifting apart. She didn’t really know any specific details about his life nor did he about hers. It was all so vague and distant.

Still, Heather wasn’t completely clueless. She visited the riders right after they moved back to Berk. It was like their final goodbye. This is it. She would be back, of course, but they’d never be as close as before. Heather wasn’t blind or deaf or dense or slow or anything and she noticed how her  _ boyfriend _ looked at another woman dear to his heart. It only hurt a little.

Heather noticed how he was always teasing this  _ other woman _ whilst remaining blunt with her. She noticed how he doted over this  _ other woman _ as he left Heather by herself. She noticed how he always kept his eyes on this  _ other woman _ but barely spared Heather a glance here and there. This  _ other woman _ … Not as much of a friend to Heather as, say, Astrid or Hiccup, but they had still made each other’s acquaintance.

At first, Heather was jealous. She’d admit that she was honestly jealous. She couldn’t understand what  _ her boyfriend _ —they hadn’t officially broken up yet but she knew it was coming—saw in this  _ other woman _ . She dwelled on it, prolonging her stay by claiming that she didn’t want to leave just yet. She observed, invisible to both her targets. At first, she thought that it was her fault; she thought that she didn’t love her boyfriend enough and he was feeling deprived of love so he looked for it elsewhere. She thought he only liked the  _ other woman _ because she was there and available and that if she loved her boyfriend more, he would get over it. She was half-right.

Heather and her boyfriend rarely kissed throughout their whole relationship. They hugged sometimes and it was nice, but they never got  _ that _ close to each other. They talked about silly things but, when the topic got serious, they got silent; actually, he got silent first and Heather read the room. He said he would listen to her and try to help but he honestly didn’t know how to deal with her and, when she took off her mask, it made him uncomfortable. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t hers either. It was a faultless crime.

She watched how comfortable he was with this  _ other woman _ . Then, it hit her.

She loved him. Gods, she really did, but she loved him like a brother and a friend. Maybe she liked him a little bit more than that, but she didn’t feel like they loved each other. They weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. They were friends who kissed from time to time to hide from that truth.

And this  _ other woman _ , well, she was closer than Heather was to him. They had been together for years. She couldn’t compete with that. No matter how much she and him  _ thought _ they liked each other, he’d definitely pick the  _ other woman _ over her. Her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend liked her, but it was different than how he liked the  _ other woman _ . Heather could listen to them talk and feel it. 

It was time.

* * *

She asked him to meet her early that morning, just as the sun was rising. She didn’t ask him in person. She just left a letter in his room and hoped for the best.

“Um, hey, Heather?” Fishlegs waved at her and Heather could tell how tense he was. His shoulders were raised like they always were when he was nervous. “You asked to meet me.”

“This isn’t working out.” Heather was blunt. She had to be. Fishlegs was a really nice guy but he was a real pushover at times. He was a people pleaser and would have absolutely blamed the whole thing on himself. He would’ve tried to salvage what little they still had and Heather wouldn’t have been able to resist him.

“Okay.”

Heather was prepared for a lot of things but she was not prepared for that. It’s not like it wasn’t a  _ good _ reaction but… No. She was the one who broke up with him. She didn’t have a right to feel upset about it—his lack of a reaction, no questions asked, just accepting.

The guilt and the fear was starting to overwhelm her, but she still smiled. “So, friends?” She was half-expecting him to say ‘No’. Her mind was racing, unable to stop thinking bad thoughts. Had he known this was coming? Probably, honestly. But, if he had known, why hadn’t he said anything earlier? Has she done something wrong and wanted her to suffer? Did he not care?

Was he happy that she was breaking up with him?

“Yeah, friends.” Fishlegs took her hand and shook it before turning around to leave, assuming this conversation was over. Heather wasn’t going to keep him. “Oh, and, Heather,” Fishlegs called over his shoulder, “I knew this was gonna happen, but no hard feelings.”

“None.”

Heather stayed where she had Fishlegs meet her, on the island but far away from the village of Berk. She didn’t come back until after breakfast when she grabbed her bag, said her goodbyes, and left.

* * *

Heather didn’t cry that day or many days later. She smiled, a lot. She was happy. She was free and she just freed a boy from a lifetime of misery with her. 

Heather couldn’t cry? How could she? She didn’t love him like that. This was for the better. Besides, she was the one who broke up with him. This was a faultless crime, yet, she was the one at fault. She couldn’t cry about it.

Her friends were gone. Her brother was with his  _ wife _ . Heather kept to herself but she didn’t cry. She was strong. She didn’t cry. She was brave. She didn’t cry. She had been through much worse.

Then her brother and his wife came home.

* * *

“Heather?” Heather snapped her head up from the porridge she was eating. She had been waking up and eating breakfast extra early to avoid being witness to her brother and his wife’s affections. She slipped up. “I’ve noticed that you haven’t been in the company of your brother and I for a while. He assured me that you could take care of yourself, but we’re both aware of our current standings in your life.”

“Um, what?” Heather swallowed the porridge in her mouth and pushed the bowl away. She only ate a few spoonfuls but, suddenly, she was no longer hungry. “I don’t follow…”

“Your brother came into your life not too long ago and I even more recently.” Mala pulled out a chair to sit diagonally to Heather. “I know that I cannot understand how you are feeling with all these changes but I promise you, your brother and I are here for you.” To emphasize, Mala took Heather’s hand from the table and held it in hers.

Heather liked Mala but, alas, they hadn’t spent too much time together. The older woman and her brother spent much of their time before the wedding all over, planning. After, Mala still had a tribe to run. Heather had been traveling too so neither girl bonded.

“That’s not the problem.” Heather was tempted to pull her hand back. She didn’t want Mala’s look of pity. However, that would be rude. Mala was just trying to be nice.

Mala smiled and walked away before getting her own bowl of porridge and sitting back down. Heather should’ve taken her opportunity to leave. 

“If that’s not the problem, what is?” If Heather had still been eating her porridge, she would’ve just choked on it and spat it out all over Mala. Instead, her face flushed. “You don’t have to tell me but I am married to your brother and I want to be a good sister-in-law.” Before Heather could mutter some crude remark about Mala’s kindness to her only being an extension of her care for her brother, Mala got up and knelt down next to Heather. “I do want to be your friend.”

Heather was beginning to hate how hard her emotions hit her all at once. She started crying. She couldn’t breathe. She felt awful but she didn’t even know what to say. Mala just stayed there, rubbing her back until the younger girl collected herself.

Barely above a whisper, “How did you and my brother know you loved each other?”

“Well, um, when we met we didn’t meet on the best of terms…” Mala pulled her hand back to scratch her neck. “But your friends, the riders, helped us realize that there really wasn’t any meaning for such hostility between each other.” Heather looked at the blonde as she looked off into the distance. She was probably remembering. “We enjoyed the time we spent together and decided to meet up more. Then we decided that he should take the trials. He passed. We married. And now we’re here.”

Heather frowned, biting her lip. “But how did you know that it was him and not anyone else?”

Mala turned back to Heather. “Are you having problems with a boy?”

“Wha- No, I just- I- Uh.” Heather’s face flushed even more and, at that point, she knew she was screwed. “I’m not really having a problem. I had one.” Mala raised an eyebrow at her. “It’s… over.” Gods, she could barely bring herself to say it.

“It’s over… but you’re still thinking about it?” Mala stood up and now she was towering over Heather. Heather felt like she had done something wrong, like Mala was here to interrogate and prosecute her. Her heart was pounding in her ears. She felt hot. Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes had stopped watering but she still felt like crying. “It sounds to me like it’s not over.” Mala held out her hand and, as Heather took it, she lifted the younger girl up from her seat and pulled her closer. Their faces were so close that Heather could see her eyelashes clearly. “From what I’ve heard, you aren’t one to give up on the people you love.”

Heather gulped. She hadn’t  _ given up _ . She just let him go.

* * *

Heather avoided Mala and Dagur for the rest of their day before they inevitably had to switch off and go back to Mala’s tribe. From what Heather gathered, Mala never told Dagur as neither brought it up again. Heather herself was starting to feel better. She was starting to forget about Fishlegs. She was moving on. She hadn’t been with anyone, though she spotted a few nice looking guys. She had moved on.

* * *

Astrid visited Heather personally. It had been over a year since they left the edge. Heather had already gotten the news: Stoick the Vast was dead and Hiccup was now the chief of Berk. As the person who took care of the Berserker tribe while their official chief, Dagur, was preoccupied and as his friend, Heather was invited to the celebration. Still, Astrid had wanted to meet with her in person.

Astrid dropped by early, hopping off of Stormfly and practically right into a hug with Heather. The two girls stood there, embracing for a few moments, before they finally parted and started talking.

“Heather!” Astrid panted a little. For her to have arrived this early, she either left even earlier and was tired or flew here very, very quickly. “It’s been too long.”

“It has.” Heather led Astrid to the stables where she kept Winshear so Astrid could drop off Stormfly and they could properly catch up. “Um, I mean, I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough, but how are things going? How are you guys?”

Astrid paused for a second, as if contemplating what to say. “Well, everyone’s been adjusting. It has been hard, of course, but I know Hiccup will figure everything out.” Heather’s unreactive face told Astrid that this wasn’t what Heather wanted to hear about. “Um, Snotlout is still Snotlout—hot-headed and overly flirty. Tuffnut is also the same. No one’s really changed much. Oh!” Astrid jumped, catching Heather off guard as she stumbled in response. “There’s this new guy, Eret. He was a dragon trapper but he switched sides. He’s cool. Ruffnut really likes him.”

“Ruffnut…?” Ruffnut was the girl that Fishlegs liked and now she liked someone else. So, what did that mean for Fishlegs?

“Yeah, I can’t blame her.” Astrid laughed, flushing ever so slightly. “He does look nice and he’s a respectable dude. I think Ruffnut will get over it soon enough. He’s not interested in her.” The girls reached the door to Heather’s hut and she pulled it open. “He’s just a little refreshing given that the only people available have been Snotlout and Fishlegs for a while and their bickering was getting really annoying.”

“Oh?” Heather sat down on her bed and Astrid followed suit. “Snotlout and Fishlegs had been fighting over Ruffnut?”

“Very much.” Astrid took off her bag and flung it across the room. “Kinda still are.” Astrid noticed the sudden solemn look on Heather’s face and new that, as her friend, it was time to ask the question. “Hey, whatever happened to you and Fishlegs? You guys were still dating when we left the edge but he kinda just started flirting with Ruffnut after we settled in Berk.”

Heather wanted so bad to make some snarky comment along the lines of  _ ‘Yeah, well not all of us get the man of our dreams like you do, Astrid’. _ She did want to, but she didn’t want to cut off the one best friend she had. She settled for, “It wasn’t working out.”

“Did you try to make it work?” Astrid scooted in closer to Heather. “I mean, Hiccup and I had our moments where I thought it wouldn’t work. Look at the difference between us. I’m this fierce and strong warrior and Hiccup is… well, Hiccup. Not to mention that he is the son of a chief and I kept reminding myself that he should marry some daughter of a chief from another tribe. I thought we weren’t good enough for each other. We’re like the complete opposite in personality, but we  _ made _ it work.”

Heather laughed, trying to ease the mood of the room. “You and Hiccup are cute but, trust me, it wouldn’t have worked.”

Astrid looked at Heather for a second before getting up and looking around the room. “What brought this on? You and Fishlegs used to be obsessed with each other.”

“Yeah, used to.” Heather got up and followed Astrid, making sure the visitor wasn’t messing with anything she shouldn’t be. “We kinda just drifted apart.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Heather huffed. “Maybe we just weren’t as in love as we thought we should be. I know people are getting and have been married by our age but we’re young. We moved away.” Heather’s voice quieted. “Maybe it’s because he loved someone else…”

“Are you sure it’s not just because you’re scared?”

“What!?” Heather rolled her eyes. “And where’d you get that idea.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you never told anyone that you guys broke up.” Astrid walked in front of Heather so that they were face to face once more. She pointed to herself. “You never told me. I saw you watching them before you left. You didn’t do anything and I know you didn’t talk about it. So, you were scared. You didn’t want to bring it up. You broke up with him and you didn’t want to bring it up because you were too scared to face it.”

Heather picked up Astrid’s bag and tossed it to her. They’d have time to catch up at the celebration. Right now she didn’t have time for it. “Get out, now.” When Astrid didn’t move at first, Heather practically yelled. “Please!”

“I just don’t want you to make a mistake you’ll regret.”

It’s too late. She already had.

* * *

Heather had meant to go back. She had meant to go back and ask the questions and say what she needed to say. She just took her time.

Foolishly, Heather thought that, with the arrival of Eret, maybe things would fall apart between Ruffnut and Fishlegs. This time she thought entirely wrong. Ruffnut was still interested by Eret, but her relationship with Fishlegs only continued to grow. Snotlout had found a new target in Valka. Fishlegs had no competition. Ruffnut was his. He was hers for the taking. Fishlegs was not Heather’s.

She actually had all the letters written and ready, but they were never sent. Like Mala, Astrid had mostly dropped the topic after their one confrontation. She pushed Heather to interact with Fishlegs at the celebration but Heather avoided both of them. Mala was watching too.

Heather did not find out from Fishlegs. It was after the wedding between Hiccup and Astrid, which she was in attendance of. She still avoided him. Heather found out from Astrid, of course. Fishlegs and Ruffnut had decided to get married. She had received an invitation that she tossed.

She went on the insistence of Astrid. Astrid told her that she would definitely hate the wedding but assured her that she would hate it even more if she wasn’t there for her old friend on his special day. Heather went and stayed in the back and didn’t talk to anybody. She only said her obligatory congratulations to the newlyweds and slipped out of the party early.

Dagur found her sobbing behind the building.

* * *

“Hey, sis,” he called out to her. “I know that I haven’t been the best brother and that this must be hard for you, but I’m here.” Heather continued crying and Dagur’s smile fell. “Um, I’m not really good at these things.” He pointed to the door. “If you want me to get Astrid or Mala, I can.” Without a response, Dagur began walking away.

Then Heather grabbed his arm. “Please stay.” Dagur obliged and pulled the broken girl into a hug. “I- I messed up.”

Dagur ran his hand through Heather’s hair as she tried to catch her breath. “Hey, hey, hey.” His voice was much quieter and softer than his usual loud and brash tone. “We’ve all made mistakes and, trust me, this is nothing compared to the ones I’ve made.”

Heather tensed in his arms and pulled away a little. “But this isn’t the same. Fishlegs is my friend and I did this as a good guy of my own free will and I really messed up and it only hurt myself.”

Dagur pulled back to arm’s length, looking at Heather’s face with his hands on his shoulders. “You’re strong. I know you can do this. And you didn’t hurt him. That’s something.” Heather shook her head so Dagur took on a more assertive tone. “Heather, you are a tough and resilient girl who’s been through some stuff and had to make tough decisions. I’m not saying that you have to like this, but don’t beat yourself over this.” Dagur took one of his hands off Heather to stick his index finger up in the air. “If there is one thing I learned after joining you guys, it’s that I can’t fix everything I’ve done and, if I want to move forward, I have to leave them behind. We can’t let the past weigh us down or else we’ll never get better.”

Heather wiped off her tears. “I just wanna go home.”

Dagur placed his arm around her back and guided her to the door. “Of course. Let’s just grab you a hot cocoa and Mala and I will take you home.”

“Thank you,” Heather whispered as Mala came up to her with drink in hand already and Astrid hugged her goodbye.

* * *

Heather loved Fishlegs. Whether she loved him as a friend or more, she didn’t know yet. Perhaps she may never know. She didn’t do all she could and that could have changed things. What she did know was that she still had good friends and family out there who were watching out for her. Love was confusing and currently beseeching Heather at the moment, but this was definitely love.

She would forever be known as the other woman when Ruffnut and Fishlegs’ kids ask their dad about how he used to know her and, while the title pained her, she could live with that. Once, Ruffnut was the other woman to Heather and Fishlegs. Heather could live with being the other woman because being the other woman wasn’t always a bad thing; sometimes it was just how things were. She’d always be there with no guarantee that she was needed and would never act in any way to make it so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was honestly a bit hard trying to reason with this so I stretched things and used some of my own personal experiences with “love” to try to relate because the best way to write a believable story is to base it off of things that really happened.  
> Mala and Dagur may be a bit OOC because I couldn’t remember how they spoke too well.  
> According to the HTTYD wiki, the 2nd movie was about a year after RTTE.  
> Not gonna lie, It’s 2 A.M. and I was very tired at the end so I wasn’t thinking the most. I wanted to get this out before I went to sleep but I also just want to sleep.  
> Also kinda anti-climactic.


	8. Happy Birthday, for All the Years I'll Miss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because, even though he left believing the village hated him, there was one day a year where they all made up for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> August 3rd, 2020  
> 4,354 Words  
> Rated K/K+  
> Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Stoick, Gobber  
> Hiccup Ran Away AU, a little alcohol towards the end

** _Happy Birthday, for All the Years I'll Miss_ **

* * *

Hiccup had left just a few days before his birthday. It was unintentional, really. Hiccup could’ve easily forgotten that his birthday was soon with the way the village treated, bullied, and abused him. He wanted to leave as soon as he could. It just so happened to be right before his birthday.

Stoick was not the one who suggested they do anything for Hiccup’s birthday. He was heartbroken and shocked. His boy had gone missing several days ago; he disappeared and never came back. Hiccup was presumed dead. Gobber was also not the one who did anything for Hiccup’s birthday. While he loved the little squirt to death—and he was probably the only one—he was not willing to force this on the chief. Stoick was grieving and in denial. The last thing he’d want is a remainder he failed.

No one wanted to suggest they do anything for Hiccup’s birthday and, perhaps, no one could. At least, no one except for the little Hofferson girl. She was insistent, willing to poke the sleeping bear and to plead to Stoick about doing something. Hiccup’s birthday was his favorite day of the year and, if they wanted to properly commemorate him, they should do something. Next year it would be up for debate but, this year, they would do it. It would be their final goodbye.

Hiccup didn’t know what brought him back to the village that scorned him that day. He was well aware of what day it was, having notched off how long he’s been gone in his journal. Hiccup also didn’t know what he expected to see as he flew over Berk. He had always thought that the people would be relieved to get rid of their useless mistake of an heir. Stoick would pick a new heir far more capable than Hiccup and he would be forgotten in due time.

Hiccup did not expect to see what he did. The village was all gathered and decorations were put up but they themselves remained relatively silent. On a pile were some significant things in Hiccup’s life that he had to leave behind including a toy he played with as a kid and the blanket he had when his mom was taken. There were also several letters.

Stoick and Gobber stood separate from the crowd, backs to the pile, and facing them. They weren’t crying but everyone could see the two men wipe at their watery eyes. At the front of the crowd was the other teens, all stifling their tears in a similar way to the two men. Vikings didn’t cry.

Gobber spoke first after dropping the apron that Hiccup wore while working at the forge into the pile along with his letter, labeled in some questionable handwriting. “Hiccup was a great apprentice. He was far more skilled than I ever will be. We lost a great blacksmith and a kind boy. May he rest in peace.”

Stoick walked up to speak but, as he stood there, the words weren’t coming. Everyone waited for a few moments until Gobber came up and patted the father on the back. Stoick took his offering—some of Hiccup’s clothes that he left behind—and his letter and put it into the file before walking to the side and hanging his head in shame. Gobber was right there with him.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut came up first for the teens with a toy he had made for them when they were littler that shot water at its targets. The twins had enjoyed tormenting the village with it, much to everyone else’s annoyance. Hiccup himself had fallen victim to their antics despite being the one to gift them the gadget. Still, he kinda enjoyed it. As the village embarrassment, it was always nice to see something he’d done making people happy. It was also a test for him—seeing what he could get some pieces of scrap metal, wood, twine, and other rubbish to do. The twins placed the toy on top of the pile with a crudely doodled on letter.

“No matter how much we picked on him, he was a good kid that could laugh with us instead of getting mad at our jokes.” The twins turned back to the crowd, moving to the back to avoid attention as they clung to each other and hid their red, puffy eyes from the crowd. 

Hiccup felt a pang of guilt because he knew that, oftentimes, he absolutely loathed the twins’ pranks and would have gladly yelled at them if he didn’t feel so inferior. He learned to surrender that feeling as a kid when he realized that he’d never win a fight.

Snotlout came up second with a sketch Hiccup had made for him. Snotlout had asked him to stretch the truth a bit and draw him as bigger and stronger than he really was. Hiccup didn’t feel like he was in a position to deny him. Instead, he took the sketch as an opportunity to hone his skills. He’d have to be more creative than his usual drawings which were direct copies of real-world things. It helped him with his inventing later when he had to draw his creations from his head without knowing what they looked like in real life. Snotlout loved the picture and patted Hiccup on the back when he got it. Snotlout placed his own letter with his signature ‘S’ on it and the sketch onto the pile.

Snotlout was more openly crying. It wasn’t that he desired everyone to see him at his weakest point, but he couldn’t hold it in as well. His sobs were quiet but his tears were visible. “I may not have treated Hiccup the best but the little guy was a really cool dude. No matter where he’s ended up, I’m sure he still is.” 

Hiccup was a little surprised that Snotlout thought well of him. If anything, Snotlout seemed to be the person who hated him the most in the village. Whatever. He was probably lying to look good. Snotlout followed suit of the teens and stayed in the back.

Fishlegs was next. With him was a notebook that Hiccup had helped him with. Fishlegs was the only one that could rival Hiccup in the brains department. Arguably, the former was more knowledgeable about dragons. He could rattle off the facts like nursery rhymes. Still, they each had their favorable and unfavorable qualities. Fishlegs was a stickler for following the rules and easily anxious. Hiccup wasn’t afraid to break them as everyone viewed him as a mess up anyways. He didn’t see a problem with compromising his own safety for success. Fishlegs letter had beautiful and elegant writing on it and was decorated with a beautiful pattern of swirls. Fishlegs added his things to the pile.

“Hiccup is- was the smartest guy I know- knew.” Fishlegs coughed. He was choking on his words and the crowd staring at him didn’t make it any better. Hiccup kinda felt bad for him. “He was amazing and I looked up to him. I wish him the best, wherever his next journey takes him.” Fishlegs shuffled to the back, shrinking into himself.

Gobber and Fishlegs were the only people that were remotely nice to Hiccup but he still didn’t  _ like _ them. Hiccup was Gobber’s apprentice and the older man was obliged to treat him well. Not to mention that Hiccup was the chief, and his friend’s, son. Fishlegs acted nice to Hiccup when he wanted something. Otherwise, the two didn’t talk much.

Astrid strode up last. Her eyes were much drier than everyone else’s and she was much less shaky. If anything, it looked more like she was going to make a battle declaration rather than saying goodbye. In her hand she clutched the axe that Hiccup had made for her. Her knuckles were white.

Astrid’s voice was far louder than the whimpers of everyone else. “Hiccup was special in his own way. He was smart and creative. He probably had more brains than our entire village combined—minus Fishlegs.” A couple of people grumbled at Astrid’s claim. Many people did still believe that Hiccup had been a walking disaster who sucked at everything she tried. Astrid didn’t stop.” “He may have been weak to us but, at the same point, I could never be as strong as him. What he lacked physically, he made up for with his determination and resilience. I know that he didn’t go out without a fight.” The other teens in the back quietly clapped. “May all his suffering cease and may he rest well. The gods know he deserves it,” Astrid whispered as she placed her beloved axe on the pile along with her unmarked letter. She walked calmly past the crowd and passed the other kids. She had done what she came here to do.

Hiccup didn’t know what to say. He had come to assume that Astrid thought of him like everyone else did—useless, weak, a runt. He was tempted to jump out, to say that he wasn’t dead, but Hiccup wasn’t so sure everyone would admit these things to his face. He told Toothless to turn around. He had gotten what he needed.

The kids couldn’t fire the arrows. Stoick, Gobber, Spitelout, and a few of the other adults did, lighting the pile aflame. 

Watching the fire from her locked room, crying away from the others, Astrid remembered what she wrote in her letter. “Happy birthday, for all the years you’ll miss.” Little did she know how close Hiccup was, getting one last look at her before he left again.

* * *

Astrid’s birthday was next. Astrid knew the choice she had made when she forfeited her weapon. She, by no means, was going to give up being a fierce warrior. However, she never felt like she could be the same as she was since Hiccup  _ died _ . Hiccup was strong and he didn’t fight with his fists. Astrid wanted to  _ be _ strong too.

Most of the village had gone back to normal, though Stoick was much more reserved and dragon training was still postponed indefinitely. Astrid had never been one for celebrating her birthday and it wasn’t going to be any different this year. Her plan was to go to the forest to get some privacy and train. Her family would probably do something for dinner, but that didn’t matter for now.

Hiccup had been adjusting to his new life well, far away from Berk. However, he couldn’t abandon his home of fifteen years just yet. On birthdays, it was obligatory to treat the birthday boy or girl with respect. As his peers had thrown him one last celebration, he thought it would only be fair for him to do something similar for them.

Astrid had only slipped away from her training spot for a second to get some water from the creek. She was surprised when she saw a wrapped package waiting for her when she got back. No one knew she trained her; they wouldn’t let her if they did. After Hiccup disappeared, everyone was wary of what lay in the forest and women and children were banned from going in for their own safety. Men had gone in but found nothing, leading everyone to believe that whatever took Hiccup was still out there.

Astrid poked the package with a stick first, making sure it wasn’t some prank by the twins. When nothing happened, she picked it up and gauged its weight and shape. Finally, she tore the package open bit by bit.

It was beautiful. It was an axe that was slightly bigger than the one she had burned not too long ago. The blade was shiny and sharp and the blue handle was finished with gold and silver crawling up. However, the axe wasn’t what took her breath away. With the axe was a matching blue shield, also encrusted in gold and silver swirls. Astrid marveled at the set before realizing there was also an unmarked letter with it.

She opened it and read,  _ ‘Because sometimes the best offense is a good defense.’ _ Astrid wondered who would have done it before she flipped the letter over to look for a name. Instead, it said,  _ ‘Happy Birthday, for all the years I’ll miss.’ _

When people asked where she got the axe and shield from, Astrid would play dumb and say it was a birthday surprise. Then she’d accuse them of being the ones who gifted her them.

In her heart, however, she knew this was her parting gift from Hiccup. It was her best kept secret.

* * *

Fishlegs birthday came third. Some time had passed and the teens had returned to dragon training. Everyone was pretty lifeless and unenthusiastic except for Astrid. How could they believe that they could win against the fearsome and murderous dragons that killed a boy so close to them? Sure, he was the weakest of the pack, but now that title fell on Fishlegs. He was petrified.

Fishlegs had taken Hiccup’s place in the forge during his free time. It was only natural as he was the only other teen capable of understanding the complexities of the tasks. However, he was often too scared to be as creative as Hiccup with new inventions and stuck to what he knew. He talked less than before and nobody made much of an effort to talk to him besides Astrid. He was Hiccup’s replacement and it terrified him.

Astrid insisted that they do a little something for Fishlegs birthday as they always had. The other kids were too scared to go into the forest so they used an empty Kill Ring. Gobber helped. They set up snacks, a couple of decorations, gifts, and a game. The party was short and awkward. No one was in the mood for it. They played the game and got out a few slight smiles with some small laughs. It was a success given the circumstances.

Fishlegs went home second to last, Astrid staying behind to clean up since it was her idea. It was dark and most everybody else was already home. Fishlegs parents had a nice dinner with him, both being too busy labouring to drop by the Kill Ring. Afterward, they said goodnight and went to sleep.

When Fishlegs saw the box on his bed, neatly wrapped, he first assumed it was from his parents. He opened the letter first, decorated with a beautiful sketch of a dragon he didn’t recognize. It read,

_ ‘I heard you know a lot about dragons. Here’s some notes you won’t get from anywhere else. _

_ -Happy Birthday, for all the years I’ll miss.’ _

Fishlegs had a fleeting idea about who the gift was from but he wouldn’t admit it. He felt too guilty, despite having nothing to do with the boy’s apparent death. Fishlegs always felt guilty about not doing anything more to ease the boy’s daily suffering. He opened the book and, sure enough, there was a notebook filled to the brim with more notes and sketches about some dragons Fishlegs didn’t even know existed.

He spent all night reading the journal and, the next day, pulled out of dragon training. He claimed that he knew he would never be strong enough and almost everyone bought it; a look from Astrid told both of them everything they needed to know.

* * *

Snotlout's birthday came and, for the first time in a while, someone was actually excited about their birthday and pushing preparations. Snotlout had spent some time after Hiccup’s death arguing his worth as heir to the chiefdom… at the insistence of his father. Besides Astrid and Fishlegs who had both gone a bit soft, Snotlout was the only capable one around Hiccup’s age. So, Snotlout tried to shape up and he appeared to be doing okay.

Snotlout was still arrogant, hot-headed, and didn’t always know when he reached his limits. Alone, though, he knew well that he wasn’t ready and he’d need a lot of help and time to be. He never showed it in front of anyone else, though Gobber, Astrid, and Fishlegs pried and Snotlout was pretty sure Stoick suspected it. He pretended to be unaffected by Hiccup’s death. Behind closed doors, he mulled over every mistake he made and how he should’ve done better.

As Snotlout’s birthday came up, he made a big affair out of it. His friends were relatively excited. After Fishlegs’ birthday success, they were more open to the idea of partying. For just a little while they could enjoy themselves. They celebrated in the Great Hall with a feast and music and decorations galore. They danced, talked, ate, and played games. Everyone except for Stoick was there.

The birthday boy knew why the chief wasn’t there: Snotlout was replacing Hiccup as heir. They celebrated like they didn’t lose his boy so recently. Snotlout knew that he would never be able to replace Hiccup. Snotlout knew that he wasn’t chief material but he would try to be. Astrid was right that day. Hiccup was strong and kind. He was smart. Snotlout was a fool, a weakling, and mean. He’d never be what the people wanted or needed but he could take something from Hiccup; he could be resilient.

Snotlout had so many presents that he couldn’t open them all before night fell and the party was over. He opened as many as he could but there was still a small table full to open in the morning. One of the presents was wrapped in a particularly underwhelming style with plain brown paper. The gift was also small and flat. Snotlout opened it last.

Inside was a note and a sketch. The sketch was beautiful with vivid reds, oranges, and blues. The sketch itself was an image of Snotlout, older and standing over Berk. It was flattering. Snotlout looked to see if anyone signed the sketch but there was only the note.

_ ‘I know you’ll be a really cool chief. _

_ -Happy Birthday, for all the years I’ll miss.’ _

Snotlout smiled. Did he believe the note? No. But, as long as the people would stand with him, it didn’t matter what he thought. Astrid and Fishlegs dropped by in the morning to hang out and Snotlout knew that he had his people there for him.

* * *

The twins’ birthday came last of the teens. Like Snotlout, they wanted a big celebration. Unlike Snotlout, they didn’t need the whole village to have a big celebration. They kept the list to just the other teens and Gobber. Over the year, they had become a tight-knit group.

The teens spent the whole morning setting up an elaborate maze-like structure littered with traps in the Kill Ring. They’d have thought that Astrid would be annoyed, Fishlegs would be scared, and Snotlout would be stupid and somehow hurt himself more than the twins intended. Then, Snotlout would also be annoyed and embarrassed. Instead, all the teens laughed and had fun setting off the traps. The twins knew that Astrid could tell where all the traps were but, if she was the one to reach a trap first, she still set them off. Fishlegs let loose a little and, while still getting scared by some of the traps, he enjoyed the maze. Whenever Snotlout fell victim to a trap, he didn’t get as arrogant as he usually did. Instead of falsely claiming he was better than these traps, he complimented the twins. It was a great time and the twins liked that the others enjoyed their efforts.

The twins had dwindled down with their pranks after they realized most of the village wasn’t having fun. Before, onlookers tended to chuckle behind their hands. Now everybody was annoyed. For several days they went cold turkey. The twins were bored out of their minds but it was better than having the whole village hate them. While their destruction was purposeful, the twins took up the mantle of being most destructive after Hiccup. Eventually, the twins built up pranking again. They did it much less often and the pranks were much less harmful. They just wanted everyone to smile.

After the maze, the teens had a cake and snacks and played a few other games. They reminisce over the passing year. For a second, the room got quiet but the mood didn’t turn sad. They missed Hiccup but it was past the time to mourn. It was the time to thank him for all he had done for them. As evening fell upon them, everyone went to the twins’ house for a sleepover.

The other three teens slipped away from the twins, claiming different things: Fishlegs was still hungry, Snotlout needed to use the bathroom, and Astrid wanted a bit of fresh air before going to sleep. Alone, the twins heard something fall in front of their doorstep. The other teens had already given them gifts but this was a new one. The wrapping had various funny sketches on it but no name.

They tore open the package to find a bag of spheres with pins in them and tiny stick-like things. Along with the weird items were some notes and a diagram. It said:

_ ‘Like you, these work in two. These are destructive so use them sparingly. On here you’ll see notes about the design and a diagram so you can remake these when you run out. _

_ -Happy Birthday, for all the years I’ll miss.’ _

The twins didn’t touch the gift they received for the longest time but, when they did, it didn’t disappoint. It was very destructive and useful. They gave the design to Fishlegs to recreate, though they lacked the zippleback gas for it. They’d have to figure out how to get that one day. In the meantime, their supply was enough. They didn’t need to destroy that much.

* * *

Gobber didn’t want a birthday celebration. Nevertheless, his twins insisted. They all “ditched” his class to throw him off before surprising him with a cake and gifts. Gobber’s party was not as eventful as the others but the kids did their best to make him enjoy it. They thanked him for all that he had done for him and for his support. They were gonna be done with dragon training soon, though none of them seemed to be heading in the direction of becoming dragon-killing warriors. Snotlout would become chief and Fishlegs would become blacksmith. Astrid still had fight in her but she was often reluctant. She’d rather try more peaceful tactics and knew that would compromise her on the field. People were wary of her. The twins weren’t sure of where they would end up. What they did know was that they wanted to stay in Berk. They didn’t want to have to come and go like many of their warriors did as they rushed into conflicts off of the island.

Gobber headed home the happiest he had been in a while. He stopped by the forge for one last look over before turning in and found a small package. As he unwrapped it, he saw an apron decorated with dragon scales. A paper slipped out and Gobber read:

_ ‘This is more fire-proof and smoke-resistant than anything you have. _

_ -Happy Birthday, for all the years I’ll miss.’ _

He smiled and hugged the apron close for a few moments. He wore it every time he was in the forge since.

* * *

Stoick’s birthday was last and, this time, they couldn’t convince him to do anything. He stayed inside the whole day. He didn’t eat much, not that he ate much any other day. People came by and knocked on the door but he wouldn’t open it. He just sat and drank, waiting for this day to be over with.

Astrid insisted that they do something. No one wanted to anger the chief but she said they didn’t have to. With Stoick still hiding, she instructed all of the village to drop off gifts at his door. Many of them eagerly obliged, pitying the poor man. He lost his wife and his son. There were a lot of gifts.

Stoick opened the door that night, long after everyone had gone to sleep. He had passed out in the middle of the day due to his excessive drinking and had only just woken up. Among the gifts was one thing that stood out. There was a letter, alone, in the middle of the pile. The handwriting looked familiar…

_ ‘You’ll get over it. _

_ -Happy Birthday, for all the years I’ll miss.’ _

Stoick cried that night but, eventually, he did. He got over it and helped Snotlout become chief. He was there as Astrid was placed in charge of Berk’s warriors despite her only resorting to violence as a last option. He was there as Fishlegs decided that he was not going to replace anyone as blacksmith and became a healer instead. He was there as the twins proved themself capable of more than just destruction and they played with crazy inventions like Hiccup had.

His son was gone. Whether he was alive or not, Stoick would not say. He knew that his son wouldn’t come back for him so he let him go. Stoick eventually did get over it.

* * *

Every year, Astrid and the others placed various letters out for Hiccup’s birthdays. Whether he read them or the wind took them or some dragon thought they were food or something else, they didn’t know. No one received any surprise gifts from a mystery sender after that year, but that was okay. They had all they needed to hold them over and they were ready to accept the boy back if he ever did come back from the dead.

He never did.

Hiccup wasn’t sure what compelled him to come back that year. Maybe he was scared and still thought he was weak and he needed the safety net of being able to go back. However, one year later, he had changed. He had become stronger and braver and wilder and he was no longer scared. He had said his final goodbyes and he was at peace with his history with Berk. He would leave Berk at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was my parents’ birthdays two days ago; they were born on the same day one year apart. Now isn’t that cute?  
> Also, I finally watched the third movie. Yay!  
> I should stop writing these so late at night (it’s midnight and I have to be up in the morning). I love writing soooooooo much. Okay, I really do… And then I got rider’s block and didn’t finish the story for another nearly twenty-four hours. I did finish this on the 3rd at 11:58 PM. Posting took a second.  
> The second invention I gave the twins was based off of the grenade-like thing Hiccup used in the third movie and his trusted sword Inferno. Since zippleback gas appears to be used in both and the twins ride a zippleback in canon, I thought it’d only be fitting.


End file.
